What Psychodynamic therapy?
Psychodynamic therapy (sometimes known as psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy) is a therapeutic process which helps people become more aware of their inner world and the influence this has over their relationships.
This type of therapy uses this process as a means of helping patients to understand and resolve their emotional and mental problems. Unlike most other types of treatments, psychodynamic therapy strives to illicit a deep-rooted change in personality and improvement in emotional development.
How does Psychodynamic therapy work?
During psychodynamic therapy, a patient will be encouraged to talk about how they are feeling so that they, and their therapist, can identify recurring patterns in their thoughts, emotions and behaviours. The therapist will often probe into the patient’s past. Discussions around their childhood and early life experiences will make up a large proportion of psychodynamic sessions with a particular emphasis on how these experiences have impacted their current problems.
The therapist will observe how the patient interacts within the therapeutic relationship whilst adding their own insights into how their relationship habits are shaping the discussions they are having. In essence, the aim of the psychodynamic sessions is for a patient to get to a point where they are able to connect the dots between their past experiences and their current problems and use their internal resources in order to address these problems.
How can Psychodynamic therapy help?
The psychodynamic approach is designed to help people with a wide range of problems. These stem from anxiety disorders, various types of addictions, depression and eating disorders. It can also aid in understanding and dealing with obsessive behaviour and phobias.
Some people seek help for more generalised problems such as difficulties in concentrating, problems with relations or people facing difficulties at work or general day to day life.
Who is Psychodynamic therapy for?
Whilst psychodynamic therapy is suitable for everyone, it is generally believed that there is a particular type of individual who responds well to the approach and benefits from it more so than others.
Under typical circumstances, those with a genuine interest in exploring themselves and looking to attain a greater, more in depth level of self-knowledge and self-awareness will gain better quality benefits from it than those who do not. It is particularly beneficial for people are struggling to find meaning in their lives or are having difficulty in forming or maintaining personal relationships.
It can also help children and adolescents with emotional and behavioural difficulties which may be manifesting at home or at school. These can range from learning difficulties and sleeping disorders to personality and eating problems.
