Psychodynamic Therapy

• In order to help the client understand what their unconscious disturbances are and how their mind works, psychodynamic therapists will draw on similar techniques used in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy. These are listed below:

• Free association: This technique involves the client talking freely to the therapist - saying the first things that come to mind. There is no attempt to shape ideas before they are said, nor do clients tell things in a linear story structure. The spontaneity allows for true thoughts and feelings to emerge without any concern for how painful, illogical or silly they may sound to the therapist.

• Therapeutic transference: This is the redirection of feelings for a significant person - especially those unconsciously

retained from childhood - onto the therapist. Clients will often feel an erotic attraction towards their therapist, but this transference can manifest in many other forms such as hatred, mistrust, extreme dependence and rage. Through recognition and exploration of this relationship, the client can begin to understand their feelings and resolve any conflicts with figures from their childhood.
• Interpretation: The therapist is likely to stay relatively quiet throughout therapy, but will occasionally interject with thoughts or interpretations of the topics the client chooses to discuss.

The application of these interpretations will depend on the therapists awareness of the client's mental state and capacity to integrate material that they are not aware of.

• Short-term psychodynamic therapy: Since the 1950s a shorter, more intense type of psychodynamic therapy has emerged. Following its introduction in a series of workshops, the method of short-term psychodynamic therapy (also know as intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy - ISTDP) was eventually developed in the 1960s and 1970s by psychiatrist Habib Davanloo. Davanloo's aim was to enhance the efficacy of psychoanalysis and minimise the length of treatment.

While the primary goal of short-term psychodynamic therapy is very similar to psychoanalysis (and thus psychodynamic therapy), rather than acting as a neutral observer of a client's personal development, a short-term psychodynamic therapist will be an active advocate of change. They will guide the client through the process by applying non-interpretative techniques including encouragement to feel. This method was essentially founded on Davanloo's discovery that the dynamic unconscious has many layers. His specific interventions allow the therapist to access those layers, and when applied in a specific style and at specific times in the therapeutic process, help the client to overcome unconscious blocks and resistance as quickly and efficiently as

possible.