What is Psychodynamic Therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy is a form of in-depth talk counseling. It originated from the of study of psychoanalysis- which focuses on helping clients understand the subconscious roots behind emotional suffering. It utilizes self reflection and the therapist’s interpretations to help clients gain more insight and knowledge into their problematic life patterns.

Below are Some of the Key Principles Psychodynamic Therapy Focuses On: 

▪️Understanding how life experience shapes one’s personality and how he/she perceives situations.

▪️Understanding how unconscious motivations affect behavior and decision making.

▪️Understanding how past experiences affect the present.

▪️Develop insight and understanding in order to help individuals with psychological issues.

▪️Help clients expand their range of choices and improve interpersonal personal relationships in order to heal/grow.

▪️Allow clients to free themselves from the past in order to live a better future.

The Theraputic Relationship

This style of counseling highly emphasizes the importance of having a trusting and secure connection between the therapeutic relationship. It explains that clients may not be able to unravel and unpack their deepest fears or insecurities without this baseline of safety. Therefore, having a strong/trusting theraputic alliance should always be the main priority.

Role of the Therapist

Psychodynamic therapists typically encourage clients to take lead and set the agenda of what he/she wants to discuss during the session. Psychodynamic therapists also try their best not to share their own personal views or opinions with the client. In fact, most therapists rarely disclose personal information and believe that it’s important to create a “blank slate” for clients to freely explore their own thoughts/feelings without any outside projections. This not only helps clients come to their own conclusions, but is also intended to help individuals trust their own life decisions.

Concepts and Techniques

➤ Free Association: 

Psychodynamic therapy often involves the use of free association. This psychoanalytic technique happens when a client is encouraged to discuss whatever is on his/her mind without a set agenda. For example, clients can be encouraged to freely talk about recent life events, past conflicts, current fears, desires, or perhaps even nightmares/dreams. The purpose of this concept is to reveal and understand a person’s unconscious motives and ways of thinking. 

➤ Transference:

Transference happens when a client unknowingly projects or transfers their own personal thoughts, feelings, or emotions about the past onto the therapist. For example, this may happen if a client is going through a recent breakup and now associates women as being "untrustworthy." The client may then start becoming skeptical or nervous about disclosing personal information to a female therapist- subconsciously out of fear that the same relational trauma will be re-enacted.

Transference typically happens when the brain is trying to make sense or understand a current life event by using past experiences. If processed correctly, transference can be a powerful tool to use during therapy in order to help clients overcome the past and heal these experiences.