THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC AND HUMANIST’S VIEWS.
COVID-19 pandemic is a current worldwide health crisis caused by a rapid infectious coronavirus. The most significant ethical issue is the emphasis enacted to ease access to healthcare resources due to the increase in the number of infected people (Kotalik, 2018). There have been tremendous efforts by both governmental and non-governmental bodies in ensuring that healthcare resources are available to contain this disease. For instance, the World Bank Group deployed a total of $160 in support of the developing countries. The finances will assist the developing countries in attaining quality healthcare facilities and enhancing their fast-track response to the pandemic. The World Health Organization has also played a major role in funding the less developed countries, for example, in Africa in terms of preparedness and response strategy. The founder of Alibaba’s online shopping platform, Jack Ma, donated medical supplies to Africa in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. All these efforts have promoted healthcare services in many countries all over the world.
Comparison between the psychoanalytic and humanist views.
Humanistic and psychoanalytic theories portray both similarities and differences in their point of view. First, both theories are similar in that they acknowledge that individuals are at the forefront of development (Kassin & Bull Kovera, 2018). They both hold that individuals enhance their personal development through their struggle to satisfy their needs.
Humanistic and psychoanalytic theories have both been put under criticism. Psychoanalytic theory was criticized for the lack of empirical research. This was brought about by the fact that there was no prior research regarding personality psychology. Therefore, their theories did not base on any empirical evidence. Similarly, humanistic theory faced criticism for the lack of empirical research. This is because the theory often refers to matters of common sense and therefore lacks objectivity in its views.
On the other side, humanistic theory differed with the psychoanalytic theory on the view of individuals’ development process and the control they have over the process. The humanistic theory states that individuals’ personality develops out of their intrinsic motivation to fulfill their needs. On the other hand, psychoanalytic theorists claim that the development of individuals’ personality is enhanced by their id-system, which is sexual. Psychoanalytic and humanistic theories contrast in their views of how an individual’s personality develops (Kline, 2015). The psychoanalytic theory implies that personality development occurs due to psychosexual energy produced by the id right from the stage of infancy to adulthood. Humanists suggest that personality development occurs naturally throughout the individuals’ lives until they get to the point of self- actualization.
The Concept of Psychoanalysis
The theory of psychoanalysis focuses on human behavior in the diagnosis and formulation of a treatment plan for mental disorders, whose development is accredited to Sigmund Freud. According to Freud’s beliefs, the event in an individual childhood tends to have a significant influence on the subsequent years of their adult life. For instance, anxiety originating from past traumatic experiences in personal life is stored with the consciousness of the person and might have detrimental effects during adulthood in the context of mental health and well being (Ávila, 2016). In essence, our ability to give an account of our activities and thoughts to others tends to provide a false statement of motivation. In this context, Freud psychoanalysis aim at explaining human behavior through the use of the topographical model of the mind, which aims at giving insight into the structure of the brain and its functionality. In this case, the development of the analogy of the icebergs is credited to Freud, who highlighted the need to consider the roles of the unconscious mind in determining human action and inherent behaviors to form the basis of understanding human behavior. The concept of psychoanalysis, as developed by Freud, has been isolated from modern-day clinical practice academic environment (Paris, 2017).
Relevancy of Psychoanalysis
Arguably, Freud’s theory on human behavior and the focus on the conscious mind are compatibles with modern neuroscience. However, the relevancy and ability of a scientific approach depend on its ability to withstand changes over time. To a greater extent, this explains why the theory of psychoanalysis, as developed by Freud’s, is on the decline and has gained very little empirical support. Thus, it’s worth noting that the relevancy of the Freud theory is on the decline due to increasing evidence and empirical research that refutes Freud’s idea on the conscious states of the human mind. Paris (2017) argues that the psychoanalysis theory is in self-imposed isolation and can be considered to be pseudoscience. In this context, the theory is supported by a hypothesis that cannot be refuted by empirical evidence.
Also, the irrelevancy of psychoanalysis in the current clinical practices is attributed to the inability to produce scientific evidence. Taking into consideration other theories derived from psychoanalysis, their relevancy in clinical practices is backed by scientific evidence (Paris, 2017). For instance, even though the attachment theory has an inherent weakness, the approach has extensive scientific literature and evidence to support the relationship between attachment and mental health. In this context, the attachment theory becomes relevant due to empirical evidence compared to the psychoanalysis theory.
References
Kassin, S., & Bull Kovera, M. (2018). Forensic personality and social psychology. The Oxford Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology, 856-884. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190224837.013.34
Kline, P. (2015). Personality (Psychology revivals): Measurement and theory. Routledge.
Kotalik, J. (2018). Preparing for an influenza pandemic: Ethical issues. The Ethics of Public
Health, 193-202. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315239927-13
Ávila, A. (2016, July). The intersubjective: A core concept for psychoanalysis. In International Forum of Psychoanalysis (Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 186-190). Routledge.
Paris, J. (2017). Is psychoanalysis still relevant to psychiatry?. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(5), 308-312.