The Psychodynamic Perspective

The DSM’s Reconnection to Psychoanalytic Theory through the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders

“…Freud’s initial unified framework of mental life, the topographic model, divided the mind into three regions: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious (Freud 1900, 1911). Within this model, personality and its development were believed to be highly influenced by the affect-laden unconscious, much more so than by any contributions made by the conscious or preconscious parts of the mind (Bornstein, Maracic, and Natoli 2018). Freud eventually moved away from his topographical model and shifted toward a structural model of human mental life (Freud 1923).…”

“…Neither Freud’s topographical model nor his structural model directly categorized personality into specific configurations or disorders. Yet the theory underlying Freud’s structural model (e.g., that the power and influence of id, ego, and superego differ across individuals) has permitted unique personality styles to be roughly organized in terms of variations in the level of power and control each of these psychic structures maintains (Bornstein, Maracic, and Natoli 2018).…”

“…Encouragingly, even neurobiological and genetic research has begun to investigate distinct substructures of self-functioning (Dimaggio et al 2008; Lieberman 2007; Lombardo et al 2007, 2010; Uddin 2007; for a meta-analysis, see Northoff et al 2006) and interpersonal functioning (Donaldson and Young 2008, Gordon et al 2008; Heinrichs and Domes 2008; Levine et al 2007), as well as the interaction between the two (Vanderwal et al 2009). The dimensionality of personality and the focus on self and on self in relation to others, nevertheless, is inherently psychoanalytic (Bornstein, Maracic, and Natoli 2018).…”

“…However, the APA’s desire for greater neutrality with respect to etiological theories encouraged a shift away from psychoanalytic theory, resulting in the problematic atheoretical model introduced in DSM-III in 1980. Despite an ongoing emphasis on the use of noninferential personality disorder categories, the claim made in DSM-5’s AMPD that “disturbances in self and interpersonal functioning constitute the core of personality psychopathology” (p. 762) directly parallels primary themes that characterize psychoanalytic personality theories (Bornstein, Maracic, and Natoli 2018). As demonstrated by the comparison with PDM-2 within the context of two prominent psychoanalytic theories, the AMPD brings psychoanalytic theory back into the DSM system.…”

Personality dynamics behind bars: Improving mental health services in a correctional facility.

“…Contemporary psychodynamic understandings of personality are based on the premise that personality dynamics are organized around themes, with each theme reflecting core conflicts and patterns of preoccupation (see Lingiardi & McWilliams, 2017). Conceptualizing an individual's personality allows for a greater ability to understand why the individual thinks, feels, and behaves the way they do, and psychodynamically informed perspectives of personality consistently address situational variability, underlying processes, and the person's subjective experience of self, other people, and self-other interactions (Bornstein et al, 2018).…”