Compare and contrast aspects of psychodynamic and cognitive Essay

Compare and contrast aspects of psychodynamic and cognitive theoretical approaches to counselling - Essay Example Traumatic memories of childhood are recorded in the unconscious mind and these are reminded in the individual until it becomes a cause of sickness and emotional disorders in adulthood. The belief that psychological factors can cause some sickness or malfunctioning became a popular concept during the time of Freud. Freud became phenomenal when he first announced the science of psychoanalysis. It was new then but his patients were healed and freed of their illnesses because of his precise diagnosis. Although his theory focused more on the sexual libido and the oedipal complex, they were at first unopposed and became the basis for treatment of many illnesses. Stress or anxiety, according to Freud, was a primary cause of sickness in man. Riley says that these unconscious events of the pasts were discovered through â€Å"techniques such as free association, the interpretation of dreams, thoughts and feelings emerging through reveries on the couch and nothing slips of the tongue (known as ‘Freudian slips’), misreadings and the forgetting of names† (Riley, p. 5). ... Stress can mean anxiety, arousal, fear, or burnout. This particular phenomenon causes maladies like mental illness, cancer, cardiovascular disease, but also common cold. There is a relational link between arousal and stress to metabolic rate. When we are active, or involved in sports, our metabolic rate rises, along with gross measures of the heart and respiratory rates. When stress is experienced, metabolic rate also rises. Ways to determine if an organism is activated or aroused include physiological measure, where the â€Å"organism’s overt behaviour may be used as basis for evaluation† (Pargman, 2006, p. 3). We can measure or observe the physiological component. We have the nervous system which is composed of the central nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The central nervous system is comprised of the brain, spinal cord and its branches. The automatic nervous system is composed of the head, pelvic, and sympathetic divisions. The three divisions of the autonomic nervous system are in counterbalancing act. They have some control on the vital functions of the body. The central nervous system on the other hand interferes in cases of emergency – it sends impulses to the autonomic system as soon as it perceives danger. The perception of fear in particular situations can provide thoughts. For example, a musician may think that he/she will not be able to perform well; she becomes afraid. This will send impulses to the brain. Anxiety may come in and the performance will be greatly affected. There are theoretical perspectives in determining stress causality, these are: psychoanalytic orientations, learning orientations, sociological orientations, and personological orientations (Pargman, 2006, p. 30). Freud called traumatic anxiety the excess libido