Social work theory · Volume A: Individual & Psychological

Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theories

Psychodynamic theory is a family of explanations holding that behaviour, emotion and relationships are shaped by mental processes that operate partly outside conscious awareness.

1. What it is

Psychodynamic theory is a family of explanations holding that behaviour, emotion and relationships are shaped by mental processes that operate partly outside conscious awareness. These processes are formed in early relationships, carried forward as internal patterns, and expressed in the present through conflict, defence and repetition (Brandell, 2004). “Psychoanalytic” refers to the original theory and clinical method developed by Sigmund Freud. “Psychodynamic” is the broader term for the many approaches that grew from it while keeping its central assumptions: that the past shapes the present, that people are not fully aware of their own motives, and that the helping relationship itself is a site of change (Payne, 2021).

Five sub-traditions sit within this family.

Classical psychoanalytic theory (Sigmund Freud). Freud proposed a topographical model of mind (conscious, preconscious and unconscious) and later a structural model of three agencies: the id, the source of instinctual drives; the ego, which mediates between drives and external reality; and the superego, the internalised moral standards of parents and society (Freud, 1923/1961). Psychological symptoms were understood as compromise formations produced by conflict between these agencies. Key clinical concepts include repression, free association, dream interpretation, transference (the client’s redirection of feelings from earlier relationships onto the therapist) and countertransference (the therapist’s emotional response to the client) (Freud, 1900/1953).

Ego psychology (Anna Freud, Erik Erikson). Ego psychology shifted attention from the drives to the ego’s adaptive capacities. Anna Freud (1936/1966) systematised the defence mechanisms, such as denial, projection, regression and intellectualisation, by which the ego protects itself from anxiety. Erikson (1950) extended the theory across the lifespan and placed the ego within its social and cultural context through his eight psychosocial stages. Ego psychology was particularly influential in North American social work because it emphasised coping, functioning and adaptation rather than pathology alone (Goldstein, 1995).

Object relations theory (Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott). Object relations theory holds that the primary human motivation is relationship rather than drive gratification. “Objects” are the internal mental representations of significant others, formed in infancy and used as templates for later relationships (Greenberg & Mitchell, 1983). Klein (1946) described early defences such as splitting, in which others are experienced as wholly good or wholly bad. Winnicott (1965) introduced the “good-enough mother”, the “holding environment” and the “true” and “false self”, concepts that translate readily into social work ideas of containment and reliable care.

Attachment theory (John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth). Bowlby (1969) argued that infants are biologically predisposed to seek proximity to a caregiver when distressed, and that repeated experiences of care form internal working models of self and others. Ainsworth and colleagues’ Strange Situation studies identified secure, anxious-ambivalent and avoidant patterns (Ainsworth et al., 1978), and Main and Solomon (1990) later described a disorganised pattern associated with frightening or frightened caregiving. Attachment theory began within psychoanalysis but drew on ethology and systematic observation, and it is now also treated as a relational theory in its own right (see B).

Relational psychoanalysis. Relational approaches, associated with Mitchell (1988), integrate object relations, interpersonal psychiatry and self psychology. They view the mind as constituted through relationships and treat the therapeutic encounter as co-created by both participants. The worker is understood as a participant whose own responses are part of what is examined.

2. Historical development

Freud’s work began in neurology and the treatment of hysteria in late nineteenth-century Vienna. Psychoanalysis became an independent theory because it offered something the medical model of the time lacked: a method for understanding symptoms through the meaning they held for the patient. In the 1920s, North American social work, then seeking a scientific basis for casework, adopted psychoanalytic concepts on a large scale (Woodroofe, 1962). The diagnostic school of casework and later Hollis’s (1964) psychosocial approach both drew on ego psychology.

The family diversified as later theorists challenged Freud’s drive model. Ego psychologists emphasised adaptation, object relations theorists emphasised relationships, and Bowlby’s turn to ethology and observation eventually led attachment research to develop as a field of its own. From the 1960s, social work’s interest in psychodynamic ideas declined as systems, behavioural and critical theories gained influence. It was later renewed through relationship-based practice, which applies psychodynamic concepts to statutory and community settings (Ruch et al., 2018).

3. Practical guidance

Psychodynamic theory is most often used by social workers as a way of understanding rather than as a formal therapy. Its practical contributions include the following.

• Use the relationship as information. Clients’ reactions to the worker, such as hostility, compliance or idealisation, can be understood as transference shaped by earlier relationships. Workers’ own strong reactions are countertransference and are best explored in supervision rather than acted on (Ruch et al., 2018).
• Recognise defences without confronting them directly. Denial, minimisation or projection often protect a person from intolerable anxiety. Naming defences too early can increase resistance; building safety first allows them to soften (Brandell, 2004).
• Provide containment. Drawing on Winnicott’s holding environment, workers offer reliability, clear boundaries and consistent follow-through. In child protection and forensic settings, predictable contact can itself be therapeutic.
• Assess attachment patterns. Attachment concepts inform assessments of parent–child relationships, kinship and foster placements, and adult help-seeking (Howe, 2011).
• Attend to endings. Separations and case closures can reactivate earlier losses. Planning endings deliberately is a direct application of psychodynamic thinking.

4. Critical evaluation

Strengths. Psychodynamic theory offers depth: it explains why people repeat patterns that harm them and why change is often slow. Its attention to the worker–client relationship underpins relationship-based practice and supervision. Its evidence base is stronger than often assumed. Shedler (2010) reported effect sizes for psychodynamic therapy comparable to other evidence-based therapies, and Leichsenring and Rabung (2008) found long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy effective for complex mental health conditions.

Limitations. Popper (1963) argued that psychoanalytic claims are unfalsifiable, and Grünbaum (1984) questioned the clinical evidence on which Freud relied. Classical theory has been criticised for its gendered assumptions, for example about female development, and for locating problems inside the individual while neglecting poverty, racism and structural disadvantage (Payne, 2021). Its long-term, insight-oriented methods fit poorly with the time-limited, outcome-focused services in which most social workers practise.

Overall importance. Although few social workers now practise as psychoanalysts, psychodynamic ideas remain embedded in the profession’s language: defence, transference, containment, attachment and the use of self. Used critically and alongside structural analysis, the theory helps workers understand the emotional dimension of practice and their own place within it.

5. References

• Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. Hogarth Press.
• Brandell, J. R. (2004). Psychodynamic social work. Columbia University Press.
• Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1955). Studies on hysteria. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 2). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1895)
• Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. W. W. Norton.
• Freud, A. (1966). The ego and the mechanisms of defense (Rev. ed.). International Universities Press. (Original work published 1936)
• Freud, S. (1953). The interpretation of dreams. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vols. 4–5). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1900)
• Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 1–66). Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)
• Goldstein, E. G. (1995). Ego psychology and social work practice (2nd ed.). Free Press.
• Greenberg, J. R., & Mitchell, S. A. (1983). Object relations in psychoanalytic theory. Harvard University Press.
• Grünbaum, A. (1984). The foundations of psychoanalysis: A philosophical critique. University of California Press.
• Hollis, F. (1964). Casework: A psychosocial therapy. Random House.
• Howe, D. (2011). Attachment across the lifecourse: A brief introduction. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Klein, M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 27, 99–110.
• Leichsenring, F., & Rabung, S. (2008). Effectiveness of long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy: A meta-analysis. JAMA, 300(13), 1551–1565. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.300.13.1551
• Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as disorganized/disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. In M. T. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & E. M. Cummings (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 121–160). University of Chicago Press.
• Mitchell, S. A. (1988). Relational concepts in psychoanalysis: An integration. Harvard University Press.
• Payne, M. (2021). Modern social work theory (5th ed.). Red Globe Press.
• Popper, K. (1963). Conjectures and refutations: The growth of scientific knowledge. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Ruch, G., Turney, D., & Ward, A. (Eds.). (2018). Relationship-based social work: Getting to the heart of practice (2nd ed.). Jessica Kingsley.
• Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98–109. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018378
• Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment. Hogarth Press.
• Woodroofe, K. (1962). From charity to social work in England and the United States. Routledge & Kegan Paul.