Psychodynamic psychotherapy, also called psychoanalytic psychotherapy, is a treatment approach that seeks to bring unconscious mental content into awareness, reducing the inner psychological conflict that stems from emotional trauma or stress. Although often used interchangeably with psychoanalysis, it draws on psychoanalytic theory but runs over a substantially shorter period, typically meeting once or twice a week rather than the more intensive schedule of traditional psychoanalysis, and it emphasizes a strong, trust-based relationship between patient and therapist; its theoretical foundations draw on Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein and object relations theorists such as Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion. It is considered evidence-based, treating conditions including adjustment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders, and long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy may offer small but statistically significant benefits over other therapies for complex mental disorders, though study limitations qualify that finding.
Facts
Origin YearSourced to the subject's own account FAQs
Why does psychodynamic therapy look at childhood and past experiences?
It rests on the idea that behavior and well-being are rooted in childhood and past experiences.
The American Psychiatric Association describes psychodynamic therapy as based on the idea that behavior and mental well-being are rooted in childhood and past experiences. That is why the work looks backward as well as at present difficulties, bringing feelings a person may not be aware of into conscious awareness.
Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
2. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory section, first sentence
The principles of psychodynamics were introduced in the 1874 publication Lectures on Physiology by German physician and physiologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodynamic_psychotherapy, lead section
Psychodynamic psychotherapy (or psychodynamic therapy) and psychoanalytic psychotherapy (or psychoanalytic therapy) are two categories of psychological therapies.
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