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Psychology Factsheets
www.curriculum-press.co.uk Number 133
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
This factsheet summarises the main aspects of different types of • The analyst will also notice and interpret the transference. This
psychodynamic psychotherapy. The factsheet includes exam is an unconscious process whereby the patient projects feelings
guidance and the worksheet gives you the opportunity to apply belonging to significant relationships onto the analyst. The
what you have learned to exam style questions. Words in bold are analyst’s unconscious response to transference is called
explained in the glossary. countertransference. This can also provide information about
the patient’s relationships and how they relate to people and
The examiner will expect you to be able to: are related to by others in the external world.
• Discuss therapies derived from the psychodynamic model
• Describe different types of psychodynamic psychotherapy Exam hint: Some exam answers relating to psychodynamic
technique are flawed and show a lack of understanding about
• Evaluate different types of psychodynamic psychotherapy
the importance of the relationship between therapist and client.
• Discuss the application of psychodynamic therapy to mental
For example, weaker candidates state that in free association,
disorders the client talks freely while the therapists just listens, or that in
• Compare and contrast psychodynamic therapy with alternative dream analysis the therapist interprets dreams for the client.
therapy models The strongest candidates are able to illustrate how free
association and dream analysis involve both therapist and
Introduction client in working through difficulties together.
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• Brief psychodynamic therapy is sometimes called Solution • Evidence suggests that the success of psychodynamic therapy
Focused Therapy as the client and therapist have a specific depends primarily on the therapeutic relationship between
goal in mind which is the focus of each session. analyst and patient.
• The therapist takes a more active role than in classical • Clinical evidence supports the use of psychoanalysis for chronic
psychoanalysis to ensure that the agreed focus is the theme in or complex psychological disorders of ‘neurotic’ type including
each session, while mostly ignoring other themes which may depression, panic, phobias, conversions and obsessions.
arise.
• Clinical evidence supports the benefits of psychodynamic
• The aim of brief psychodynamic therapy is to bring unconscious therapy for children.
impulses into conscious awareness and work through defenses
that have impacted on the client’s past and present relationships. • Psychodynamic theory focuses on past experiences which may
not be falsifiable.
Exam hint: You should be able to compare and contrast • Psychodynamic theory largely ignores biological and innate
psychodynamic therapies with therapies based on other
aspects of personality
models as well as compare and contrast different types of
psychodynamic therapies. For example, In brief
Exam hint: In evaluating psychodynamic psychotherapy the
psychodynamic therapy the therapist is more directive, the
examiner will expect you to compare and contrast with other
sessions are focused on an agreed theme, there is an agreed
methods. Your answers should be thorough and clearly
aim and the end date is agreed from the beginning. This is
structured with evidence of coherent elaboration of relevant
unlike classical psychoanalysis where the sessions are directed
by the patient, themes emerge as therapy progresses, there similarities and differences between treatment methods.
may be no specific aim and the work is open-ended.
Glossary:
D. Child psychodynamic therapy • Countertransference: The psychotherapist’s unconscious
feeling response to the client’s transference projections.
• Psychodynamic techniques were adapted for use with children,
notably by therapists such as Anna Freud and Melanie Klein • Defense mechanisms: Freud identified a number of unconscious
who developed forms of Play Therapy. mechanisms to keep conflict out of conscious awareness
including denial, repression and intellectualization.
• Psychotherapists believe that play and drawings are symbolic
representations of unconscious fears and fantasies, just as • Dream analysis: Method used in psychodynamic therapies
dreams are. where the therapist and client together work to uncover the
unconscious (latent) meaning of dreams.
• Psychodynamic therapists who work with children will provide
a selection of toys such as dolls, puppets, cars, farm and wild • Free association: Method used in psychodynamic therapies
animals and building bricks. where the client is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind
without censoring their thoughts.
• They will also provide a selection of art materials for dry or
messy art such as paint, paper, pens, pencils, chalk, crayons • Idiographic: Theories based on the study of an individual
and modeling clay.
(opposite of nomothetic).
• The therapist helps the child to feel comfortable and to express
• Latent: The unconscious meaning of dreams which underlies
themselves through whichever medium they choose in order to
the manifest or remembered content.
work through their difficult feelings and experiences.
• Mindfulness: A technique developed from Buddhism which
Exam hint: You should be able to explain the ways in which
involves learning to pay attention in the moment and without
psychodynamic techniques can be adapted for working with
judgment of self or others.
children and evaluate the application and benefits of these
techniques. • Neurotic: Term used by psychodynamic therapists to refer to
disorders caused by unconscious conflicts such as depression.
E. Evaluation of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Open-ended: Types of therapy which do not have an end date
• Treatment requires commitment in terms of motivation, time and at the beginning, such as psychoanalysis. Unlike brief
money. psychotherapy.
• It is difficult to provide evidence for unconscious concepts • Systemic: Relating to systems such as family systems,
such as projection, transference and countertransference or for workplace systems or wider social and cultural systems.
unconscious defences.
• Transference: Projection of feelings from significant
• This is an idiographic approach which primarily relies on case relationships onto the psychotherapist.
studies for evidence.
Acknowledgements: This Psychology Factsheet was researched and written by Jeanine Connor. Curriculum Press, Bank House, 105 King Street, Wellington, Shropshire, TF1 1NU.
Psychology Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students, provided that their school is a registered subscriber. No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISSN 1351-5136
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1. What are the client and the therapist doing during free association?
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3. What is meant by transference and countertransference?
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4. What do children’s play and drawings tell us about their internal worlds?
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5. Evaluate psychotherapy by referring to at least two strengths and at least two limitations.
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