Social Theories for Social Work 1

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Social Theories for Social Work 1

• Understanding and Using Psycho-dynamic Theories
  in Social Work
• Adapted from the work of Phil
  Lee
• Hull School of Social Work, UOL

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What this session will cover

• What is psycho-dynamic theory?
• Freuds Contribution as philosopher / doctor
• The Human Mind libido stages of childhood
  development Oedipus complex id, ego superego
  defence mechanisms
• Does any of this make any sense - fit in with our
  own experiences?
• What Use is all this to Social Work?
• Later developments particularly attachment
  theory
• Strengths and weaknesses as a theory, and as a
  guide to practice

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What is psycho-dynamic theory?

• The MIND is central - unlike in behaviourism
• Both conscious and unconscious mind
• - biological aspects
• - cognitive
• - affective dimensions / feelings
• All of this is taking place within our minds
• - singly and interactively
• Taking account of the culture - social
  environment
• Recognition of actual and potential conflicts
  within us between our selves the environment
• OK, but what does it have to offer as a theory
  and a guide to social work practice?

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Freuds Contribution philosopher and doctor

• As a philosopher interested in
• Mental functioning the mind
• How civilisation was possible (after Darwins
  revelations)
• How humans think distinctively
• As a doctor interested in
• Behaviours that caused distress and not seen as
  normal hysteria neuroses phobias
  irrational fears
• In short, Mental illnesses / mental disorder

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a) Civilisation How is it Possible?

• Humans are directed by 2 conflicting principles
• - Pleasure provides energy and
• drives us to do what pleases us
• - Reality attempts to subordinate
• pleasure to immediate vital tasks
• Reality Principle subordinates through the
  mechanism of sublimation
• ..desires that cannot or should not be
  fulfilled can be sublimated the direction of
  their energy altered into activities that allow
  us to be more productive

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Example Sexual Pleasure

• Sex is pleasurable but can human beings pursue
  it without rules? Such as ages of consent?
  Monogamy v polygamy?
• So, Sexual energy/desire is sublimated
• Without these types of processes altering basic
  instinctual drives civilisation would not be
  possible
• But original sexual desires do not disappear -
  some of them become packed away or repressed -
  into the unconscious

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b) The Human Mind

• The unconscious contains repressed desires - that
  the conscious mind cannot deal with
• This unconscious mind is not easily accessible
  but can reveal itself in
• - dreams symbolic fulfilments of wishes that
• have been repressed
• - slips of tongue revealing repressions
• - jokes indication of repressed wishes
• These all involve condensation complex meanings
  being rendered into more simple ones, and
• displacement one image or symbol gets pushed
  onto something closely associated with it

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Mental Distress

• Freud rejected the conventional physiological
  explanations of abnormal behaviour
• He recognised that the key to explaining much
  mental distress lay in the study of normal
  human behaviour
• All behaviour could only be understood by seeking
  out its meaning for the person
• This was not easy the unconscious etc and
  required a method of analysis

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Libido The Force

• For Freud as we have seen - humans are driven
  by an energy (drives) directing what we think and
  do
• Untrammelled the human is a seething cauldron of
  fear, emotion and irrationality
• At root is the Libido sexual desire but not
  simply genital sexual desire
• Freud later argued that aggression too was part
  of this libidinal force (the natural fight v
  flight instinct)

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Stages of Childhood Development

• For Freud the newly born child was anarchic,
  sadistic, aggressive, self-involved
  remorselessly pleasure seeking.
• He identified specific developmental phases
• Oral ingesting - allows selfs boundaries to be
  established
• Anal expelling toilet training boundaries
  between inside/ outside
• Phallic pleasure principle - centred upon
  sexual identity
• So, people can become stuck /or return to one
  stage eg Anal excessive tidiness Oral
  excessive eating, smoking, drinking Phallic
  attention seeking, flamboyant dress, loud displays

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Id, Ego Superego

• During childhood, psycho-social development
  Freud also identified 3 concepts within the human
  subjects mind
• Id the Unconscious source of untrammelled
  instinctual drives/irrational impulses wanting
  immediate gratification
• Ego the control centre conscious and
  unconscious attempts to meet the demands of the
  Id. So, love and work are socially acceptable
  ways to satisfy the Ids desire for sex and
  aggression.
• Superego the internal judge the value base of
  parents, peers, family, society. It punishes or
  praises accordingly

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The Developed Adult

• So we all develop influenced expressly by the
  way we have experienced these various necessary
  developments
• Of crucial importance is the nature of our early
  up-bringing particular our relationship with
  our parents and other siblings
• Each of us is unique for Freud we can see the
  imprints of how we have negotiated the stages he
  describes through the defence mechanisms that we
  employ as an adult

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Defence Mechanisms

• These distort/falsify our experiences to make it
  easier to face - they operate on an
  unconscious level
• Two very common defence mechanisms
• 1. Fixation
• If too much gratification is received at
  any psychosexual stage, the person may become
  stuck / fixated, and return to that stage when
  stressed.
• 2. Repression
• An ego defence mechanism, when the ego
  pushes discomforting thoughts into the
  unconscious, to protect a persons self image.

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What Use is all this to Social Work?

• Very influential in early periods as social work
  established its most secure theoretical base in
  Child Guidance clinics, in Mental Health
  settings, in Counsellingthe psychodynamic
  casework.
• There clearly is important insights here for
  social work. What are they?

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Insights such as..

• That how people form early attachments has
  enormous implications for their lives
• Peoples early experiences can be crucial, have
  crucial - possibly damaging - effects
• People can be very well protected so much so
  that it is very tough for them to see their own
  fallibilities they lack insight
• How relationships can cause stress for people
  even when there is no such intent
• That many people suffer psychological distress
  without being fully aware of it
• That many of our social conventions protect power
  holders are impositions

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Later Psycho-dynamic Developments

• After 2nd World War British psycho -dynamic
  thinkers split into 3 groups
• - Anna Freud
• - Melanie Klein
• - The Middle Group Bowlby, Rutter
• Winnicott
• This latter group developed Attachment Theory ,
  which has undoubtedly been and remains very
  important in child care social work.

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Social Workers need to be able to

• Evaluate the quality of care provision - good
  enough parenting via child/carer interactions
• Assess attachment styles their impact
  understanding the signs of secure attachment
  the symptoms of insecure attachments -
• Recognise that the immediate social caring
  environment promotes internal mental models in
  the psychodynamic dynamic sense
• Plan to prevent chain of adversity reactions
  for children who have experienced prolonged
  damaging separations...leading to permanency
  planning

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Potential Weaknesses of Psycho-Dynamic Theory

• Very difficult to test empirically a form of
  historicism (Popper) potential criticisms can be
  easily dismissed by the cognoscenti
• Possibly very elitist only a very few people
  can really understand it fully
• It is very top down and reinforces professional
  power
• It is historically bound eg Freuds
  understanding of the development of female
  identity and sexuality, and his failure to
  recognise sexual abuse as anything other than
  fantasy
• It reinforces sexist, homophobic, racial and
  cultural oppression
• It seems irrelevant. As CaseCon coined the phrase
  how do you feel about the rats?social work
  is largely much concerned with structural
  problems like poverty, not feelings. Tends to
  possibly under-estimate the role of material
  factors
• Very time consuming and easy to apply clumsily

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Potential Strengths of Psycho-Dynamic Theory

• Opens up areas of study that are clearly
  important to human behaviour
• Has had a huge impact on the way that we think
  about human behaviour culture e.g. childhood
  sexualities the unconscious instincts drives
  the creativity of everyday life
• Allows us to communicate about our feelings
  understand why dialogue with others can become
  distorted Habermas calls it an emancipatory
  science
• Tries to link instinctual, biological,
  psychological and sociological factors in a most
  intriguing and vital manner. Its an example of
  Modernity, an integrated universal model

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Potential Strengths of Psycho-Dynamic Practice in
Social Work

• Opens up internal spaces in ways that can both
  add potential to human experience, and in other
  senses make it more difficult.impossible to
  ignore
• Very important resource for SWs dealing with
  child safeguarding, statutory interventions,
  child welfare, complex family interactions
  difficult life transitions, bereavement, loss,
  confused older people, drug addictions,
• So, of clear importance as a practice guide in
  child care matters, and some mental health
  situations
• Useful where strong defence mechanisms have
  developed some parents of children with
  learning or physical disabilities
• Key insights can be utilised in more focussed
  ways crisis intervention task centred work