Psychodynamic Approach Abrahamsen – ‘every element that prevents children from developing in a healthy way, both physically and emotionally, tends to

bring about a pattern of emotional disturbances which is always at the root of

antisocial or criminal behaviour’

Psychodynamic approach

Evolved from psychiatry Approach associated with Freud (1856-1939) Developed method of psychoanalysis Freud wrote little about crime Psychoanalysis and the ascertaining of truth in courts of law

Neo-Freudian influence on aetiology of criminal behaviour

Provided explanation and treatment Used as basis for early DSM categories Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (APA) Approach fallen from favour However Freud very influential

Psychodynamic approach

Freud - Personality theorist First to apply principle of causality to the study of personality

Concept of unconscious mental processes central to the theory

Concept of psychic energy important

Psychodynamic approach

Deterministic approach Personality developed in first 5 years

Innate biological urges Have to learn to control

How these controlled Profound impact on later personality Role of early caregivers/ mother important

Personality comprises 3 interacting forces

Id and superego located in unconscious mind Ego located in conscious mindId Primitive desires expressed as bodily needs Life enhancing ( libido/ eros ) Life threatening ( thanatos) Superego moral aspect of personality ( ego ideal) Contains values which have become internalised through early interactions

Punishment we expect if we violate our own / societies rules

Source of guilt

Ego

Obeys the reality principle

Strives to maintain Psychic equilibrium Drives which upset equilibrium tend towards tension reducing gratification

Ego directs the desires to an appropriate outlet

Or delays gratification until the desire can realistically be met

3 interacting forces

The unconscious mind Unconscious plays a predominant part Takes its energy from instinctual/ biological drives

Contents threat to ego Desires and painful memories repressed into unconscious mind but seek an outlet

Manifest in physical symptoms, neuroses, traits mistakes, slips of tongue, dreams, repetition compulsion

Represent compromise to conflict between primitive drives and learnt behavioural patterns

True nature of drives remain hidden to person Personality is most clearly revealed When intellect exercising least control Drunk, dreaming, forgetting of incidents

Concept of the id ego and superego and stages of psycho- sexual development

Suggested crucial periods in child’s development

Where instincts dominate Need to learn to control these Causes threat and conflict

Noted 3 areas of the body - the mouth anus and genitals particularly associated with libido

Proposed interest in these areas developed chronologically from birth

Stages of psycho- sexual development

Oral stage (1 – 2 years ) Pleasure derived from sucking later sadistic pleasure of biting

Interest in mouth never really super-ceded

Anal stage ( 2-4 years) focus of pleasure shifts to anus

Pleasure of defecation Learn power and control

Phallic stage ( 4 – 6 ) focus shifts to penis Freud focused on males Assumed clitoris female inferior biological equivalent

Stages of psychosexual development

Oedipus complex Feelings of attraction to mother Jealousy resentment of father By around 5 fear of father – castration complex Learns to identify with father Gains mothers love vicariouslyElectra complex Motivated by feeling of inferiority and penis envy Girl comes to terms with castration anxiety – reconciliation that she will never have a penis

Complexes never completely resolved but how feelings dealt with affects capability to feel deep love in later life

Conflicts At each stage child is faced with a conflict

Between desires and control

Stages where instinctual desires are either completely unmet or too easily satisfied

May become points of fixation in the development of personality

The adult may return to these fixations if confronted by major stress in later life

Defence mechanisms (Anna Freud)

Unconsciously we develop ways to distort reality

To exclude certain feelings to prevent anxiety and guilt

Arises from conflict between Id’s desires and prohibitions from Superego

If used excessively they interfere with psychological development

Prevent dealing with the world realistically

Defence mechanisms become automatic through habit formation

Defence mechanisms Displacement If we cannot get what we want channel

desires in another direction - wish fulfillment. Both id and superego are so strong and ego is so weak that person settles for second best or any available substitute (something better than nothing)  

Sublimation Desires of the Id are diverted to healthy outlets approved by the superego physical contact sports can also be included as sublimated homosexual or aggressive tendencies

Repression Desires of the Id pushed back into subconscious and the person denies they exist or engages in Freudian slips

Denial Anxiety about following desires of the id goes unacknowledged – saying opposite of how you feel denying something has happened

DEFENCE MECHANISMS

Projection Prohibitions of the superego are applied as standard for judging others and not oneself

Reaction formation

Adoption of attitudes or behaviours which are opposite to one’s true feelings. Both Id and superego are so strong that person does the opposite of both, sometimes identifying with

aggressors Fixation Prohibitions of the superego are so

strong that the person develops fears/phobias Returning to a fixed point – aim to avoid new situations

Regression Desires of the id are followed impulsively to escape from hearing the superegoReverting back to earlier comfort zones

CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR Freud cautious about applying his theories to criminality

However the approach has been applied by others – Neo Freudians

Criminal behaviour comes from within Dictated by biological needs and urges Human nature innately antisocial Humans biologically driven to get what they want when they want it Desires have to be held in check to maintain social order By internal or external processes

Criminal behaviour Approach used to ‘explain’ range of criminal behaviours

Juvenile delinquency Aggression Theft Arson Paedophilia, Rape etc The theoretical explanations form basis of psychoanalytic, or psychodynamic therapy

Up to the 1970s, treatment dominated by these methods

Counselling and group therapy widely applied

Criminal Behaviour Problems with the balance of power between id ego and superego

Can result in criminal behaviour

Review 4 offender types in psychodynamic theory

( Andrews & Bonta, 2003)

Weak superego type Weak ego type Normal anti-social offender Neurotic offender

Offender types Weak superego type – most popular in literature

Id creates desires which if not neutralized or re- channelled make social interaction difficult

This type needs immediate gratification Will be aware of the dangers of being apprehended/ punished

But the instant gratification of the crime will outweigh these fears (Warburton, 1965)

Could explain why punishment may not be a deterrent ( Kline, 1987)

Weak superegoBehavioural indicators Reckless disregard for rules Lack conscience Early conduct problems Conflict with others/ authority Bravado Isolation Features consistently linked to criminal behaviour

Psychopathy Anti-social personality disorder

Weak superego Crime may provide compensation for desires not met as a child due to unloving parenting ( unresolved Oedipus complex)

E.g. security status and acceptance If not received via family need to get from others

Eg criminal group –Glasgow delinquents (Stott, 1982)

Healey & Bronner (1936) 105 families One son criminal one not Criminal child more likely to have been frustrated / rejected by parents

Offender typesWeak ego type Immature Gullible Poorly developed social skills Dependent Tend to misread external environment and follow a leader

Normal anti-social type Normal development Criminal by identification with criminal parent May not develop sense of wrong for anti social acts Glover (1960)

Ego- mastery criminal skills

Offender typesNeurotic offender type Over-active superego Criminal behaviour result of need to be punished for past misdemeanours / perceived or real

Extreme guilt over repressed desires Suggested to result from harsh parenting

Neurotics not always likely to become criminal May be likely to develop compulsive behavioural problems

But for some the neurosis may precipitate criminal behaviour

Eg damage may be caused to property with a symbolic significance ( Glover, 1949)

Kernberg’s Theory of Border line Personality Organisation

Kernberg (1966: 1992) Personality on continuum psychotic- border line – neurotic

Defined by capacity for reality testing and unconscious defensive processes

Psychotic personality organisation Absence of reality testing Use of primitive defences Splitting and related mechanisms Identification, idealisation, denial, omnipotence, devaluation

Kernberg’s Theory of Border line Personality OrganisationBorder-line personality organisation

Capacity for reality testing Use of primitive defence mechanisms

Neurotic personality organisation Capacity for reality testing Use of higher level defences Repression, reaction formation , intellectualisation, rationalisation, isolation

Kernberg’s Theory of Border line Personality Organisation Psychotic and particularly borderline types

Splitting - Conflicting ego states Need to keep these separate to avoid intrapsychic conflict

Via primitive defence mechanisms Weakness ego functioning reduces adaptive effectiveness

However psychotic does not employ reality testing

Borderlines do Differ from higher level functioning of neurotic

But again defence mechanisms protect from intrapsychic conflict

Kernberg’s Theory of Border line Personality Organisation Primitive defences facilitate criminal

behaviour Can objectify others Whilst maintaining positive image of self

Borderline most susceptible to criminal acts Psychopaths suggested to fall into this category

Psychotics if cannot employ reality testing may not be held responsible for crime

Aggression and violence

Humans by their very nature always predisposed to aggressive impulses ( Thanatos)

Psychodynamic or hydraulic model ( Freud) suggests susceptibility from birth to build up of aggressive energy

Inwardly directed aggression harmful to self (E.g. suicide self damage, addictions, crime committed with unconscious intent of being found out )

Necessity to make it less destructive Erotising it by combining with libido Sadism/ masochism Turn it outwards towards others

Aggression Violence in all forms a manifestation of aggressive energy discharge

Needs to be discharged appropriately by catharsis

If violent crime is to be controlled excess energy must be dissipated in socially acceptable ways

By actual behaviour or vicariously – eg indulging in sport watching sport etc

Approach predicts that children who indulge in/ watch sport will be less aggressive than those who do not( Bartol, 2002).

Juvenile delinquency Healy (1909) - delinquent behaviour a result of unresolved conflicts in childhood

Suggested displacement most common defence mechanism used by delinquents 

Used "life history" method - estimated that 91% of delinquents were emotionally disturbed

50% because of a broken home 50% because of too much or too little parental discipline

Work very influential in America during 1920’s

Juvenile delinquency Bowlby (1953) Criminal activity a substitute for love and affection

Disruptions in the mother-son bond were at the root of most criminal careers

Attachment Theory – Bowlby very influential in England

44 ‘Juvenile thieves – Bowlby (1946). Case history method 6 week study

Contrast clinical case histories 44 those convicted theft with 44 other children referred to psychiatric services

Juvenile delinquency Found over representation in criminal sample of 3 psychological dispositions

9 clinically depressed 13 hyperthymics ( tendency to over activity) 14 ‘affectionless characters’ – little ‘normal’ emotional reactions

Range problems – family conflict, severe abuse, neglect, death of parent etc

Range psychosomatic problems – stigmatised, bullied, sexually abused, physical abuse, religious guilt etc

Children persistent liars, bedwetters, runaways truants

Juvenile delinquency Affectionless characters most persistent thieves

Few real friendships lonely

These children had suffered prolonged separation from parents

‘Causes’- failure of superego development Failure in development of love object inhibition

Resulting from rage and motives of self protection

Juvenile delinquency Aichhorn (1925) suggested some underlying predisposition termed “latent delinquency”

Resulted in a child becoming a criminal later in life

Believed that each child was asocial at first

Due to a failure in psychological development this asocial tendency (latent delinquency) persisted

Suggested many juvenile delinquents had under developed superegos

Aichhorn’s Work with juvenile delinquents (1925)

Studied 12 violent delinquents who had not responded to treatment

Felt they had regressed to anal stage

Needed to learn to develop superego which functioned better

Allowed them to vent anger by destroying living quarters

Important aspect – they were not punished for the destruction

Aichhorn 1925 work with juvenile delinquents

Lack of punishment meant they could not rationalize their feelings of hatred and eventually began to feel guilt

Worked on their emotional as opposed to chronological age

Suggested failure to obtain properly formed superego due to unloving/ absent parents

Began to improve behaviour and were eventually able to re enter society

The delinquent ego   Redl & Wineman studied ‘children who hate’

The "delinquent ego."

Oedipus complex- Criminals should hate their fathers more than their mothers

Found that criminals hated both their parents

Assumption - had not gone through genital stage at all  Their egos were therefore undeveloped – still in pregenital stage

Personalities an endless series of conflicts

   

Paedophilia Finkelhor& Arajii (1986) 4 basic explanations found in research and clinical literature

Most common Emotional Congruence Theories Why relating sexually to a child would be emotionally gratifying and congruent with the paedophile’s needs

Focus on arrested development See themselves as children with childlike needs Feel most comfortable with children Experience low self esteem and loss of efficacy in everyday life

Relating to child is congruent- feels powerful and in control

Provides sense of mastery in own life

Sexual crimes – regression to earlier stages?

Paedophiles often narcissistic –fixation on pre genital stages

Choose children like they were at that age

Then treat them as they wished to be treated by their mothers (Jones, 2000)

Suggested rapists may regress to anal phase at times of stress

Displace their hostility on women Could explain buggery in sadistic attacks

Sex offending Attachment Theory ( Bowlby, 1969: Ainsworth, 1989) and link to sex-offending ( e.g. Marsa et al, 2004)

Psychopaths ( Meadows & Kuehnel, 2005) Serial killers ( Hickey, 2001)

Primary care-givers inconsistent/ absent Failure in bonding process Sex offenders have insecure/ disorganised attachment styles

Cannot form close interpersonal relationships No strategies for dealing with need for security and comfort when stressed

Sex offending distorted attempt to seek closeness

Pyromania (DSM111) Multiple episodes of deliberate fire-setting Failure to resist temptation to fire-set Characterised by high levels of tension or emotional arousal before the act Relief of tension when setting the fires or watching the aftermath

Approach suggests link between fire- setting and sexual disturbances

Sadistic-destructive drives Abrahamsen ( 1960) suggested a ‘substitute for a sexual thrill…. destructive powers of the fire reflect the intensity of pyromaniacs desires and sadism’ (p 129)

Pyromania (DSM111) Fenichel (1945) link between pleasurable urination

( urethral eroticism) and fire-setting – pouring water on fire

Gold ( 1962) suggested link also with urinary malfunction

Assumption many firesetters are enuretic ( bed-wetter)

However little evidence found for this assumption

Yesavage (1983) study 50 French arsonists found no link with sexual pleasure

Also research (eg Icove & Estepp, 1987) suggests little evidence of diagnostic label pyromaniac

Summary Psychoanalytic theories of crime stress the role of inner processes and conflicts in determining behaviour

Basic tenets

Socialization depends on the internalization of society’s rules during early childhood

Impaired parent-infant relationships are causally related to later criminal behaviour

Unconscious conflicts arising from disturbed family relationships at different stages of development are the causes of some criminal acts (Blackburn, 1993)

Critique Strengths

Approach made an important contribution to early psychiatric treatments

Use case studies allows rich analysis of complex nature of criminal behaviour

And underlying ‘causation’

Important contributions to psychosocial criminology -

Identifies important connections between psychic and social

Significance of childhood attachments to adult relating

Symbolic defensive quality of criminal behaviour

CritiqueStrengths

Approach highlights that criminals cannot be ‘scientifically’ differentiated from non criminals

‘ The so called normal person has closer affinities with the psychopath than he is willing to admit himself, much less publically avow’ ( Glover, 1960: 295)

Critique Weaknesses

The difficulty to demonstrate that the family’s effect is through an influence on unconscious motives is not subject to scientific measurement

Problems associated with emphasizing biological motivation, early childhood experiences, sexual drives.

De - emphasis on both social factors and conscious motivations to break the law

CritiqueWeaknesses

Theories primarily suited for those types of crimes that result from unconscious conflicts

Not well suited for explaining crimes that incorporate planning and rational goals such as white collar and computer crimes (Blackburn 1993; Feldman, 1993; West, 1988)

References Agnew, R. (1995). Testing the leading crime theories: An

alternative strategy focusing on motivational processes. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 32, 363-398.

Aichhorn, A. (1925) Wayward Youth. New York, Viking Press. Akhar, S. & Thompson, A. (1982) Overview of narcissistic

personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139: 12-20

Alexander, F & Healey, W. (1935) The Roots of Crime. New York, Knopf.

Alexander, J. F., & Parsons, B.V. (1973). Short-term behavioral intervention with delinquent families: Impact family process and recidivism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 81, 219-225.

Andrews, D.A. & Bonta, J. (2003). The Psychology of Criminal Conduct, (3rd Ed.). Cincinnati, Anderson Publishing.

Barak, G. (1998). Integrating Criminologies. Needham Heights, MA, Allyn & Bacon.

ReferencesBartol, C. (2002). Criminal Behavior. A psychosocial approach 6th

edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.Blackburn, R. (1993). The Psychology of Criminal Conduct: Theory,

Research and practice. Toronto: John Wiley & SonsBowlby, J (1951) Maternal Care and Mental Health. Geneva, WHO. In

S. Jones (2001) Criminology, 2nd Ed. London, Butterworths. Feldman, P. (1993) The Psychology of Crime. Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press. Fine, R. (1962) Freud: A critical re- evaluation of his theories. New

York, McKay.Fisher, S & Greenberg R (1997) The Scientific Credibility of Freud’s

Theories and Therapy. Brighton Harvester Press.Freud, S. (1906) Psychoanalysis and the ascertaining of

truth in courts of law. Collected Papers; vol. 2, New York, Basic Books

Freud, A (1946) The Ego and Mechanisms of Defence. New York, International Universities Press.

ReferencesFreud, S. (1961). The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19). London:

Hogarth. Galdston, R. (1965), Observations of children who have been

physically abused and their parents. American Journal of Psychiatry 122:440443

Glueck, B. (1916). Studies in Forensic Psychiatry. Boston: Little Brown.Helfgott, J. (2008) Criminal Behaviour: Theories, typologies and

criminal justice. Los Angeles, Sage. Hickey, E.W. (2002). Serial Murderers and their Victims. Belmont CA,

Wadsworth.Hollin, C. (1989). Psychology and Crime: An introduction to criminological

psychology. New York: Routledge  Jones, S. (2000) Understanding Violent Crime. Buckingham, Open

University PressJones, S. (2001) Criminology, 2nd Ed. London, Butterworths. Marsa, F. O’Reilly, G. Carr, A, Murphy, P. O’Sullivan, M. Cotter,

A. & Hevey, D. (2004). Attachment styles and psychological profiles of child sex offenders in Ireland. Journal Of Interpersonal Violence, 19(2) : 228-251.

References

Meadows, R.J. & Kuehnel,J. ( 2005). Evil Minds: Understanding and responding to violent predators. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Pearson/ Prentice Hall.

Rutter, M. (1972) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. Harmondsworth, Penguin.

Steele, B. J. & Pollock, C. B. (1974), A psychiatric study of parents who abuse infants and small children. In: R.E. Helfer & C. H. Kempe. The Battered Child, 2nd Ed. Chicago: University of Chicago, pp. 80-133

Walsh, A. & Ellis, L. (2007). Criminology: An interdisciplinary approach. Thousand Oakes, CA, Sage