Psychodynamic Approach In Social Work

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Introduction Social work involves the application of diverse knowledge of psychological and physiological perspectives of evaluating people. The significance of such knowledge is even more enforced when dealing with groups or individuals of specialized cases such as the elderly. The understanding of human behaviour is important for a social health care worker to effectively provide appropriate services to specialized clients (Passer et al, 2009). From the perspective of the social care providers, understanding of clients and patients requires the application of appropriate theories of human behaviour. This is because these theories enable a social worker to relate the known knowledge about human behaviour to the experiences of the clients…show more content…
This theory studies the relationship between the various parts of a human being as they relate to motivational, mental and emotional forces (Kalat, 2013). Psychodynamics further explores how the psychological forces are related to the early experience of an individual. As developed by Sigmund Freud, psychodynamics is used to describe the mind processes that lead to the flow of psychological energy that influences the human behaviour. The use of this approach is less intense in the treatment of psychological distress compared to other treatment approaches (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2013). However, the application of psychodynamics allows a social worker to understand the behaviour of a person and the origin of the situation under…show more content…
According to Braisby and Gellatly (2012), the cognitive psychology studies the use of language, perception, the memory, creativity, problem solving and thinking, among other cognitive processes. The theory of cognitive psychology helps psychologists to explore different disciplines such as abnormal psychology, educational psychology, personality psychology and social psychology among others. The focus on the mental processes helps a social worker or a psychologist to understand the mental background of a person and how they shape his or her behaviour (Temple, 1990). Consequently, a social worker will be able to predict the behaviour of an individual by exploring and understanding his or her cognitive

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