About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about what the psychodynamic approach is, focusing in particular on: (i) recognising the unconscious mind as the aspect of our mind that we are not aware of; (ii) a metaphor for the unconscious mind being a memory storage facility, akin to a computer hard drive; (iii) the differences between, and functions of, active and passive forgetting; (iv) characteristics of the id, ego and superego, proposed by Freud as three parts of the mind; (v) defence mechanisms, which are non-conscious mechanisms put in place to manage conflicts between the id and superego; (vi) psychosexual stages of development that each correspond to a conflict which, if left unresolved, can lead to issues in adult life; (vii) the three main defence mechanisms in psychodynamic theory as denial, repression and displacement; (viii) Michael Anderson’s ‘Think/No-Think’ paradigm, which requires both the repression and highlighting of certain memories.

About the lecturer

Dr Shanti Shanker is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University. Dr Shanker’s research interests are in the translation of empirical and cognitive research findings to clinical and counselling applications, using behavioural and neuropsychological approaches. Some of Dr Shanker’s recent publications include 'Stuck in a Moment: Concreteness and psychotherapy after acquired brain injury' (2013) and 'Characterizing cognitive deficits and dementia in an aging urban population in India' (2012).