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Ego Psychology In Social Work

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In Social Work, theories play the role of building block on which practice is established. It is important for practitioners to have an understanding of the groundwork of practice theories so that their work with clients are foundationally grounded on evidence based practice models. This allows the practitioner to have consistency among clients. In using practice theories, social workers are able to “predict and explain client behavior” and “identify knowledge gaps about practice situations” (Walsh, 2010, p.4) because the social worker is following a framework that has been tested and has proven useful with a particular type of client. However, before utilizing any theoretical framework, the social worker must understand under what environment …show more content…
One theory, ego psychology, uses these structures to analyze and reflect on an individual’s behavior and drives. Hutchison (2015) defines ego psychology as “a theory of human behavior and clinical practice that views activities of the ego as the primary determinants of behavior” (p. 557). The ego, initially cited by Freud in his psychoanalytic theory, is what helps people navigate between internal desires and the external world (Hutchison, 2015, p. 132). The ego is the location of cognitive thinking, but it functions unconsciously to navigate between internal and external drives (Hutchison, 2015, p. 132). From the perspective of this theory, the ego is the source of “attention, concentration, learning, memory, will, and perception” (Hutchison, 2015, p. 132). The ego is also shown as being the source of one’s defense mechanisms, and therefore social work practitioners who work through this perceptive focus on making their client’s ego stronger. In both focusing on the strength of the client’s ego, and their defense mechanisms, social workers use ego psychology to look at a variety of issues and concerns. Danzer (2012) points to issues such as “inborn ability, developmental …show more content…
In general, cognitive theories believe that an individual’s reaction to a stimulus is based on conscious thought. Cognitive theorists see cognition as active “in constructing the reality we seek to apprehend” (Hutchison, 2015, p.125). Cognitive theorists believe that emotions do not occur without some form of active cognition occurring within the individual, and if there is a negative response, it is because the individual has cognitive distortions (Hutchison, 2015, p. 125). In contrast, ego psychology falls under the category of theories of emotion, which generally view primary emotions as unconscious activities. This grouping of theories generally views the “unconscious or preconscious appraisal of situations in relation to our needs” as what creates emotions (Hutchison, 2015, p. 135). However, one way in which ego psychology is similar to cognitive theory is that in its adaptation from psychoanalytic theory, ego psychologists recognize the importance of cognitive processes on the ego. They argue that, like cognitive theory, cognition plays an important role on an individual’s emotions. Typically, theories of emotion focus on the emotion happening prior to cognition, but ego psychology is similar to cognitive theory in that it believes cognition and emotion are more closely linked and happen very close to one

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