Depth psychology (German: Tiefenpsychologie) is a general name for a number of areas in psychology, focused primarily on the study of unconscious mental processes.
As a synonym for the concept of «depth psychology», the concept of «dynamic psychology» or «psychodynamic approach» is often used, although the term «dynamic» denotes only a special case of the depth approach (along with economic and topographical), which describes mental phenomena not in static, but in dynamic aspect — as a result of the collision and addition of unconscious drives.
The merit of introducing the concept is recognized by the Swiss psychiatrist E. Bleiler, who worked closely with Z. Freud. Through joint research, the authors laid the foundation for the study of mental phenomena through the prism of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis became the leading direction in depth psychology, from which numerous directions and currents later spun off.
“In assessing our reasoning about the drives to life and death, we will not be hindered by the fact that we encounter here so many strange and hidden processes, such as, for example, the fact that one drive is forced out by another, or it turns from the “I” to the object, etc. This happens only because we are forced to operate with scientific terms, that is, the specific figurative language of psychology (more correctly, depth psychology — Tiefenpsychologie). (S. Freud, 1920)
““ Depth psychology ” is a concept that arose in modern medical psychology (E. Bleiler), and denotes that psychological science that deals with the phenomena of the unconscious.” (C.G. Jung, 1951)
In addition to Z. Freud’s own psychoanalysis, analytical psychology (K. G. Jung), individual psychology (A. Adler), neo-Freudianism (K. Horney, E. Fromm, G. Sullivan, etc.) also belong to depth psychology. Within modern psychoanalysis, the following main deep theories are distinguished: the psychology of drives, the theory of M. Klein, Ego psychology, psychoanalytic theory of development, the theory of object relations, the psychology of the self.
The main alternative to depth psychology is cognitive behavioral therapy and the behavioral approach. It is important to pay attention to two circumstances: 1) deep is not a synonym for the more true and real, it is often a synonym for the invented and vaguely unthought-out. The most effective things are simple things, and specialists begin to think about deep things when they are not quite competent and do not know what to do … 2) the cognitive and behavioral approach is no less deep than the dynamic approach, but its depth is different: in the depth of layers it is possible to change at the client seemingly rather simple methods. Changing not only the habits of the client (although these are already the most fundamental changes!), But changing the philosophy of his life — such changes are really deep and fundamental.
Sources of
- Freud Z. Psychology of the unconscious. Translation from him. A.M. Bokovikov. — M., 2006
- Laplanche J., Pontalis J.-B. Dictionary of psychoanalysis. M., 1996
- Rycroft C. Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. — St. Petersburg, 1995
- Psychoanalytic terms and concepts: Dictionary / Ed. Borness E. Moore and Bernard D. Fine/Translated from English. A.M. Bokovikova, I.B. Grinshpun, A. Filz. — M., 2000