ABSTRACT
All psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinkers regard actions and experiences as strongly influenced by forces which are not in conscious awareness. Some consider that these unconscious forces and conflicts can be brought into consciousness, with consequent improvements for self-awareness and emotional integration. It will be no surprise that psychodynamic thinkers take the presence of conflicting motives for granted. 'Psychoanalytic theory' can refer to at least three different types of theory: Psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic therapy and psychodynamic counselling. A characteristic of psychodynamic thinkers is that they regard the mind as comprised of different parts which interact with each other. Two of Freud's ideas about the structure of the mind are that it comprises a conscious and an unconscious part, and that it comprises three areas called the id, ego and superego. Many orthodox psychoanalytic thinkers refer to the force which drives psychological development onwards from birth to death as libido.
