Explain one strength and one weakness of the psychodynamic approach

Firstly, a strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it reflects the complexity of human behaviour, it recognises that there are innate drivers in human behaviour such as the 'id', as well as the impact that our environment has on us as shown with Bowlby's work on maternal deprivation. This approach gives a more holistic view of human behaviour in comparison to other approaches as it does not ignore such factors, allowing for a more rounded explanation. Therefore, the psychodynamic approach has been able to offer some of the most successful treatments in psychology which is why psychoanalysis is still used in the NHS today.Despite this, the psychodynamic approach is limited by its deterministic nature. By focusing on the influence of our childhood experiences and how our unconscious drives our behaviour, the psychodynamic approach leaves little room for free-will and control of our own actions. This has implications in therapy, as it limits the possibility of improving issues and possible mental health disorders that an individual is experiencing here and now. For example, depression can be explained in terms of not receiving enough attention from a primary care giver in the first year, focusing on this factor can lead to the belief that the situation will not improve as we cannot change the past and it can ignore other aspects which could be changed such as negative self-verbalisation. As a result, being deterministic holds the psychodynamic approach back in therapy