In recent decades, Britain, like many countries across the developed world, has witnessed an evolving pattern of interest in psychology and psychologist. Psychology was initially a sub-discipline of philosophy and biology until a German born doctor and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt created the world's first experimental psychology lab. Wundt (1832-1920), the first to officially call himself a psychologist, was a German born scientist who used an approach 'structuralism' (Simplepsychology.org) and was dubbed to many as the father of psychology.
Wundt made many significant contributions to psychology, including the first to write and publish a book in psychology called 'Principles of Physiological Psychology.' Wundt was dedicated to seeing psychology looked at as a separate field of study. He was also the first to open a school dedicated to the study of the mind, mentoring several well-known psychologist including ottmar and James Mckeen Catell. .
The Psychodynamic approach is based on Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) studies of the human mind. According to Freud, behaviour is determined by the unconscious mental processes and consists of three parts which are: Id - a pleasure seeker, wants immediate satisfaction, present from birth and is the unconscious part of the mind. (Cardwell, Clark and Meldrum, 2009). The Ego – it dominates the conscious mind and considers the consequences of our actions. It is always in a tug of war by the id and superego and tries to mediate a link between reality and the unreal world. The Superego, the last part to develop and is our conscience, which is concern with our ethical judgements, feelings and responsibilities. In order for the ego to satisfy id and the superego demands, defense mechanism was proposed by Freud, which helps turn unconscious desires in a more acceptable form. This is used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety and threats and resolved conflicts that are caused by the id and superego.
