The psychoanalytic model of abnormality

Discuss the Psychoanalytic Model of Abnormality.
All theories of human behaviour that claim to be psychoanalytic in nature adhere to a number of basic claims put forward by Sigmund Freud earlier last century. In it's simplest form Psychoanalysis suggests that the conscious behaviour of any individual is in essence determined not by their conscious decisions and intentions but instead by motives and processes that operate below the level of conscious awareness. Essentially then this means that an individual does not always know why they behave the way that they do since being unconscious, their motives are inaccessible to them. In attempting to comprehend behaviour psychoanalytic theory encourages us to consider the view that our conscious actions are merely symbolic representations of our unconscious motives and processes. Therefore in order to comprehend behaviour it is necessary to establish what that behaviour might be symbolizing for a person at a deeper sub-conscious level.....