How can Psychodynamic Therapy Help You

Featuring Dr. Mary Ross, PhD, RPsych

You have provided a good overview of psychodynamic therapy and its approach to helping individuals explore deeper unconscious issues that may be influencing their present behavior. Psychodynamic therapy, while derived from Freudian psychoanalysis, focuses on understanding the unconscious dynamics rooted in childhood experiences that continue to impact an individual's life.

The therapist helps the person become aware of these unconscious patterns and address them to minimize their influence on current behavior. Childhood experiences and coping mechanisms that were once effective may no longer be beneficial in adulthood. By bringing these unconscious processes into conscious awareness, individuals can work towards changing unhelpful patterns.

In psychodynamic therapy, the therapeutic relationship itself plays a significant role. The dynamics that unfold between the individual and the therapist, such as transference (projecting past feelings onto the therapist) and countertransference (therapist's emotional response to the client), are explored as reflections of interpersonal patterns in the person's life. The therapist assists in understanding and working through these dynamics, providing insights into how they may manifest in relationships outside of therapy.

When seeking a psychologist or therapist, it is important to ask questions about their approach and find out what resonates with you. Explaining your concerns and asking which therapeutic approach might be suitable for your specific situation can help guide your decision. While some trial and error may be involved in finding the right therapist, open communication and feeling comfortable with the chosen approach are essential factors in the therapeutic process. Duration: 1 minute, 48 seconds

Well, psychodynamic therapy kind of picks up from the traditional Freudian psychoanalysis but doesn't quite go to the extreme.

What it does is it works with people and helps them take a look in a deeper way as to what might be going on unconsciously, old things from their childhood that are sort of driving their behaviour today.

And bringing some of these things to awareness, so that they can start addressing them and maybe not have it influence their behaviour so much. Oftentimes, things we develop in childhood may have worked for us then, helped us cope, but no longer work so well for us in the current time.

A psychodynamic therapist also kind of makes use of the therapy relationship, and whatever might transpire betweeen you and the therapist as sort of an example of what goes on outisde with other people.

You may have heard of transference and countertransference, and they're sort of the technical terms for sort of things that come up in that therapy relationship, that you know again are just good examples of the pattern that you have interacting with people, and a psychologist can help you kind of work that through and understand that better.

Well it's very important for people when they're finding themselves a psychologist to actually just call and ask questions: what kind of approach do you take? This is my problem, what kind of approach do you think might be good for me?

And most psychologists will give you an idea about that and let you know, and sometimes, unfortunately you have to do a little trial and error too to find what works best for you. But always ask the question and see what you feel comfortable with.

Presenter: Dr. Mary Ross, Psychologist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychologist