Psychodynamic

Psychodynamic Therapy 

The work of psychodynamic therapy is to bring the unconscious into conscious awareness.  According to psychoanalytic theory, we are driven by unconscious wishes, and we keep these wishes out of our awareness through the utilization of various defense mechanisms such as denial, regression, and projection.  When we have a wish that we deem unacceptable, this creates an internal conflict, and the conflict creates distress. The defense mechanism is utilized to avoid distress, but excessive reliance on defense mechanisms has consequences. When we rely on defense mechanisms that enable us to avoid distress and to deceive ourselves about the true motivations for our behaviors, our power to make choices becomes atrophied. When we lose this creative power, we are more likely to fall into self-defeating behaviors. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, the process of change involves raising awareness of instinctual impulses and unconscious wishes and gaining the agency to respond to them in thoughtful and rational ways. 

The Psychodynamic therapist encourages the client to speak freely about whatever comes to mind, which may include current difficulties, feelings, desires, dreams, fantasies, and motivations. The psychodynamic therapist asks questions that encourage the client to reflect on his or her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The psychodynamic therapist also offers his or her own interpretations of the client's thoughts, behaviors, and emotions, and then encourages the client to amend the interpretations where necessary. 

In psychodynamic psychotherapy, the client-therapist relationship itself is examined and negotiated. The client's unresolved interpersonal conflicts may manifest in the context of the therapeutic relationship when the client is re-exposed to emotional situations that he or she could not handle in the past i.e. the client may feel abandoned when the therapist goes on vacation. Through the use of corrective emotional experiences, the therapist uses the therapeutic relationship as another vehicle for change and healing. In the case of the client who feels abandoned during the therapist's brief absences, the therapist creates a corrective emotional experience through assisting the client in expressing and processing these emotions, and through demonstrating to the client that these absences are not permanent nor are they rejections. 

The psychodynamic therapist conducts an exploration into the client’s inner experience of current daily life and assists the client in identifying remnants of significant events and relationships of the past, which manifests in the client's system of beliefs about self, others, and the world. Psychodynamic therapy involves reflection on the interactions within the context of parental relationships and other significant, influential relationships that inform our core beliefs and affect how we relate to others in the present. Psychodynamic therapy also involves reflection on past experiences, identifying the client's unique, repetitive way of responding to the tasks of living, and increasing insight into emotional issues and conflicts at the core of the presenting difficulties. The process of self-analysis empowers the client to make more meaningful decisions and to change his or her behavior in current relationships and situations.