What is Psychodynamic Psychotherapy?
Broadly speaking, psychodynamic psychotherapy is about knowing oneself better by exploring inner experience. This usually involves thinking about the impact of formative relationships in childhood and beyond, as well as present life and relationships.
I believe - and have experienced through many years of intensive psychotherapy and training - that the therapist’s ability to be present and think with you whatever you bring, however troubling, confusing or painful, can facilitate insight and make sense of things, which can broaden possibilities.
In terms of what happens in a session, I encourage my clients to say whatever comes into their mind, which sounds simple, but for most of us really isn’t. If or when that’s difficult, we can perhaps think together about why, and what gets in the way.
This document by the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) offers an explanation of several (not all) types of psychotherapy, including psychodynamic. This article by Johnathan Shedler may also be helpful.
The following videos give a simple overview of psychotherapy:
Psychotherapy by the School of Life
Please note that the wider views or perspectives of the organisations with which these links and videos are affiliated are not my own, and do not necessarily reflect my views.
What’s the evidence?
Interestingly, the evidence shows that it’s less important what type of psychotherapy people have in terms of efficacy. Research has suggested most types of psychotherapy can be helpful. Most experienced therapists would agree however, that it’s important that you and your therapist are a fairly 'good fit’. This can be complicated, as it’s normal to have all sorts of feelings about your therapist, but to me it means that you feel reasonably comfortable with me overall, from the start. If not, it’s best to try someone else.
There’s plenty of recent research on the efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy, some of which can be explored here.