Psychodynamic psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy is based on the theory that unknown or unconscious thoughts and emotions can contribute to the problems a person may be experiencing.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy focuses on:

• the expression of emotion (affect)
• exploring the patient’s attempts to engage in an activity, or avoid a topic, that obstructs therapeutic progress
• identifying patterns in actions, thoughts, feelings and relationships
• emphasising past experiences
• interpersonal experiences
• creating an alliance between the clinician and the patient (therapeutic relationship).

Psychodynamic psychotherapy can be either short or long term. Short-term psychotherapy (eg 12 to 24 sessions) works through specific internal struggles and interpersonal conflicts, whereas long-term psychotherapy (eg over a period of years) is more intensive and works through a framework of discovering developmental deficits and unconscious conflicts.