What Is Psychodynamic Therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy is rooted in psychoanalytic theory but is often a less intensive, shorter process than traditional psychoanalysis. Whereas psychoanalysis places much emphasis on the patient-therapist relationship, psychodynamic therapy also looks into a patient’s relationships with other people.

Uses

Although similar to psychoanalysis, it is often less frequent and of shorter duration. Like other forms of therapy, it can be used to treat a variety of mental health concerns, such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Eating disorders
• Interpersonal problems
• Personality disorders
• Psychological distress
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Social anxiety disorder
• Substance use disorders

Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a popular and effective approach, evidence suggests that psychodynamic therapy can be just as effective for many conditions. Online psychodynamic therapy may be as effective as online CBT.

Important Characteristics

People sometimes act or respond in ways they don't understand. Psychodynamic therapy helps people come to understand the sources of their feelings and thoughts by:

• Identifying patterns. Psychodynamic therapy helps people learn to recognize patterns in behavior and relationships. People often develop characteristic ways of responding to problems without really being aware of these tendencies. Learning to spot them, however, can help people find new approaches to coping with problems.
• Understanding emotions. Psychodynamic therapy is useful for exploring and understanding emotions. This new insight helps people recognize patterns that have contributed to dysfunction and then work toward change.
• Improving relationships. Relationships with others are a key focus of psychodynamic therapy. In working with a therapist, people can come to understand their responses to others.

The therapeutic relationship itself can serve as a way to look into relationships through a process known as transference. This helps people explore their typical responses to others and find ways to improve their relationships.

How Effective Is It?

Assessing the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy presents some challenges, but research does suggest that it can be useful in the treatment of a variety of psychological problems.

While it is relatively easy to measure changes in specific acute symptoms, it is much more difficult to measure underlying personality changes, noted researcher Jonathan Shedler in a press release by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Despite this difficulty, research supports the efficacy and use of psychodynamic therapy to treat a variety of conditions.

• One notable review published in the journal American Psychologist concluded that the evidence supports the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy.
• Another study found that psychodynamic therapy could be at least as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
• A 2017 review published in the American Journal of Psychiatry concluded that psychodynamic therapy was as effective as other established treatments. However, the authors of the study suggested that further research was needed to determine who benefited the most from this type of treatment.

What You Can Expect

If you decide to try psychodynamic therapy, you may meet with your therapist weekly to a few time each week. Each session typically lasts for around 45 minutes and you will continue to see your therapist for several months. In some cases, you may keep having sessions for a year or longer.

During psychodynamic therapy, people are often encouraged to talk about anything that might be on their minds. This might include things they are currently experiencing or memories of things that have happened in the past. 

One form of psychodynamic therapy known as brief psychodynamic therapy is designed to produce results more rapidly, often in 25 to 30 sessions. In this shorter-term form of treatment, people may initially determine a particularly emotional area where they want to focus on.

A Word From Verywell

If you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition, talk to your doctor or mental health professional. They can make a diagnosis and recommend treatment options that may be best for your individual needs. Psychodynamic psychotherapy may be a good fit for you.