Psychodynamic Theory and Mood Swings - Research Paper Example

Psychodyanamic Theory and Mood Swings of Your Full of Introduction There are some people whose moods change significantly over a short period of time. It is common to witnessed people who tend to be happy at one moment and then get very angry, sad or upset in the next moment. This is the classical example of a person with a mood swing problem. However, this comes with fundamental questions like what actually causes people to switch in their affective moods and other things. Is it a question of genes, external stress or just a choice. Psychologically, “a mood swing is an extreme or rapid change in mood. When these changes start to become controlling, mood swings can start to affect the way someone functions.” (Weiner & Freedheim, 2013, p. 352). This implies that mood change reflects sharp and rapid changes to people’s activities and processes. And it changes the way people function and how they do things. Psychoanalysis is the theory through which a researcher examines the way a given individual or groups of people think and provide a thesis that explains the theory or concept that defines the way a person or group thinks (Fayek, 2011). This includes the investigations into the conscious and unconscious nature of the mind in order to draw conclusions about the way a given individual thinks. The purpose of this research is to draw a practical research framework through which mood swings in university students can be studied, evaluated and deduced through psychoanalysis theory. This will be done through a psychological experiment that will help to draw conclusions on the situation. Literature Review In order to conduct a basic insight into the matter, there is the need to examine previously generated and presented theories and concepts that are relevant to the study. This will provide a basis for the formulation of a hypothesis and the formulation of important conclusions Bipolar Disorders & Psychoanalysis Traditionally, mood swings in mainstream psychology has been studied under the banner of bi-polar disorders. Bi-polar disorder is “a situation where a person presents a given mood at a particular point in time and then shows another mood in different point in time due to conditions that are not linked to substance abuse” (Vieta, 2012, p. 4). One of these moods is considered normal, whereas another is either depressive or shows some degree of negative mental thoughts or ideas. Psychoanalysis applies a multidisciplinary approach to deduce the condition of a patient and come up with a solution that can help the patient to overcome his or her mental challenges in bipolar disorders (Fonagy, Mayes, & Target, 2012) This includes the evaluation of personality development in order to deduce how the individual attained a given status within a particular context. Freud’s method of psychoanalysis included a presentation of a thesis and an antithesis in order to draw a synthesis which defined the status quo in the patient’s mental profile or situation (Weiner & Freedheim, 2013). Therefore, in deducing bipolar disorder, there is the need for a psychoanalyst to evaluate the following: 1. Early development and transition from unipolar status to a bipolar status; 2. Family history 3. Genetic vulnerability assessment 4. Evaluation of environmental conditions (Yatham & Maj, 2014). Contemporary Research into Mood Swings Contemporary research mainly asserts that emotions affect the cognitive processes and this in turn, define the mood and the feeling a person has at a given point in time (Chermahini & Hommel, 2012). Therefore, some emotions are associated to certain actions, thus, for example a person who is happy is prone to socialize and such an individual achieves a higher level of semantic priming. Therefore, the contemporary view is that depression and other negative circumstances, comes up with various symptoms including mood swings and other cognitive differences (Searson, Mansell, Lowens, & Tai, 2012). Cognition and self-critical expressions often lead to the changes in moods and this causes people to appear to have two personalities (Searson, Mansell, Lowens, & Tai, 2012). Other studies conclude that psychosocial environments and psychosocial changes in a human being’s physiology and psychological systems is responsible for mood swings. In the study of teenagers, it was identified that “stress, lack of personal control, psychological maladjustment, or social maladjustment within individual teenagers” (Larson, Csikszentmihalyi, & Graef, 2014, p. 299). This shows activities in a small class of people who are considered to be going through a transition. Many other people are going through various adjustment processes. Classical examples of such transitions include the transition from being single to being married. Other examples include the transition from being a single woman to being a mother and adjustments of a widowed woman. There has also been a study that has shown that the kind of internalization mechanism adopted by a person plays a central and essential role in determining the extent of mood swings in an individual. The main internalization filter is the kind of belief an individual has and this indicates how a person thinks of the future (Lobban, Solis-Trapala, Tyler, Chandler, & Morriss, 2013). The way a person thinks often influences the kind of mood he has and this leads to swift changes that occurs over time. Gaps in Literature Review The literature review has presented the traditional and modernist view of mood swings. These two views postulate different ideas and provide different explanations about why people go through mood swings. The traditional view is that mood swings are mainly a habit and a lifestyle that people live with. In other words, these people are unipolar and they are normal. However, they move from this state of normalcy into an abnormal state where they switch from one mood to another – bipolar disorder. And they also postulate that mood swings have genetic foundations. This implies that mood swings are based on the genetic vulnerability of an individual. And in cases where a person’s close relatives have mood swing issues, they are likely to also have such issues in their own lifetimes. The contemporary view on the other hand identifies a mood swing as a phase in a person’s life that is caused by the circumstances around the individual. This includes the situation whereby a person’s emotions are stirred to behave in a certain way. Hence, this individual behaves in that way. This might be a sudden switch that happens a little too often. Other issues like depression caused by some situation causes mood swings to occur. Therefore, a widow might be sober at one point and at another point in time, she might burst into contemplative mournfulness due to the stress of the situation. Modern writers also argue that the psychosocial status of an individual and his beliefs play a role in defining the extent to which moods wings could occur in his or her life. Traditional Theories Modern Theories Mood swings develop at a given stage in a person’s life Mood swings are induced by the circumstances around a person Mood swings can be predicted by the family history of a person Mood swings can be deduced by examining the impact of the activities around a person on his thoughts. Mood swings have genetic trends that can be viewed in order to deduce a patient’s situation Mood swings are events and have little to do with the background of a person Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Modern and Traditional Theories of Mood Swings Hypothesis and Predictions Variables in Research IV & DV Method Participants Apparatus Procedure Discussion Limitations of Study Prediction or Theorization Implications for Future Research Read More