PMT
Psychology Factsheets
www.curriculum-press.co.uk
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
This factsheet summarises the main aspects of different types of
psychodynamic psychotherapy. The factsheet includes exam
guidance and the worksheet gives you the opportunity to apply
what you have learned to exam style questions. Words in bold are
explained in the glossary.
The examiner will expect you to be able to:
• Discuss therapies derived from the psychodynamic model
• Describe different types of psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Evaluate different types of psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Discuss the application of psychodynamic therapy to mental
disorders
• Compare and contrast psychodynamic therapy with alternative
therapy models
Introduction
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
Psychodynamic psychotherapies are based on
psychodynamic concepts and theories
originating from Freud’s work in the late 19th and
early 20 th centuries. The aim of
psychodynamically informed therapies is to
bring unconscious conflicts and defense mechanisms into
conscious awareness through techniques such as free association,
dream analysis and transference. The therapist helps the patient/
client to become aware of the unconscious motivations for their
maladaptive thoughts and behaviours so that they have less
influence and become more manageable in day to day life and
relationships.
A. Psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalysis is an intensive talking therapy
based on Freud’s psychodynamic theory. The
patient lies on a couch with the psychoanalyst
seated out of view. Sessions last for 50 minutes,
up to five times a week over a number of years.
• The patient is encouraged to say out loud whatever comes into
their mind, a method called free association, while the
psychoanalyst listens for clues about unconscious fears,
fantasies and defenses which are gently pointed out to the
patient so they can be thought about together.
• The patient is encouraged to talk about their dreams, which
Freud described as ‘the royal road to the unconscious’. The
analyst and patient work together to interpret the latent content
of the patient’s dreams which are thought to contain fragments
of unconscious memories of the past.
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• The analyst will also notice and interpret the transference. This
is an unconscious process whereby the patient projects feelings
belonging to significant relationships onto the analyst. The
analyst’s unconscious response to transference is called
countertransference. This can also provide information about
the patient’s relationships and how they relate to people and
are related to by others in the external world.
Exam hint: Some exam answers relating to psychodynamic
technique are flawed and show a lack of understanding about
the importance of the relationship between therapist and client.
For example, weaker candidates state that in free association,
the client talks freely while the therapists just listens, or that in
dream analysis the therapist interprets dreams for the client.
The strongest candidates are able to illustrate how free
association and dream analysis involve both therapist and
client in working through difficulties together.
B. Group analysis
• Group analysis is the application of psychodynamic techniques
used with individual patients to a group situation of people
with similar difficulties led by a group facilitator.
• Psychotherapists interested in group processes are sometimes
called systemic therapists because they are interested in systems,
for example in families or in the workplace.
• Group psychotherapy can be used for the treatment of eating
disorders, anger management, relaxation, mindfulness or other
specific difficulties.
• The psychotherapist facilitating the group will draw attention
to unconscious processes taking place within and between
individuals in the group.
• Understanding unconscious processes in the group context
can help to bring about change in the client’s relationships in
other systems the external world.
Exam hint: You should be able to distinguish between
psychodynamic group analysis and groups developed from
other psychotherapeutic models, such as skills training.
C. Brief psychodynamic therapy
• Brief psychodynamic therapy differs from
classical psychoanalysis which takes
longer to complete and is usually open-
ended.
• Brief psychodynamic therapy is also
known as time limited therapy and ranges
from a minimum of five to a maximum of thirty individual sessions
of 50 minute duration.

133 - Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Brief psychodynamic therapy is sometimes called Solution
Focused Therapy as the client and therapist have a specific
goal in mind which is the focus of each session.
• The therapist takes a more active role than in classical
psychoanalysis to ensure that the agreed focus is the theme in
each session, while mostly ignoring other themes which may
arise.
• The aim of brief psychodynamic therapy is to bring unconscious
impulses into conscious awareness and work through defenses
that have impacted on the client’s past and present relationships.
Exam hint: You should be able to compare and contrast
psychodynamic therapies with therapies based on other
models as well as compare and contrast different types of
psychodynamic therapies. For example, In brief
psychodynamic therapy the therapist is more directive, the
sessions are focused on an agreed theme, there is an agreed
aim and the end date is agreed from the beginning. This is
unlike classical psychoanalysis where the sessions are directed
by the patient, themes emerge as therapy progresses, there
may be no specific aim and the work is open-ended.
D. Child psychodynamic therapy
• Psychodynamic techniques were adapted for use with children,
notably by therapists such as Anna Freud and Melanie Klein
who developed forms of Play Therapy.
• Psychotherapists believe that play and drawings are symbolic
representations of unconscious fears and fantasies, just as
dreams are.
• Psychodynamic therapists who work with children will provide
a selection of toys such as dolls, puppets, cars, farm and wild
animals and building bricks.
• They will also provide a selection of art materials for dry or
messy art such as paint, paper, pens, pencils, chalk, crayons
and modeling clay.
• The therapist helps the child to feel comfortable and to express
themselves through whichever medium they choose in order to
work through their difficult feelings and experiences.
Exam hint: You should be able to explain the ways in which
psychodynamic techniques can be adapted for working with
children and evaluate the application and benefits of these
techniques.
E. Evaluation of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Treatment requires commitment in terms of motivation, time and
money.
• It is difficult to provide evidence for unconscious concepts
such as projection, transference and countertransference or for
unconscious defences.
• This is an idiographic approach which primarily relies on case
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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Psychology Factsheet
• Evidence suggests that the success of psychodynamic therapy
depends primarily on the therapeutic relationship between
analyst and patient.
• Clinical evidence supports the use of psychoanalysis for chronic
or complex psychological disorders of ‘neurotic’ type including
depression, panic, phobias, conversions and obsessions.
• Clinical evidence supports the benefits of psychodynamic
therapy for children.
• Psychodynamic theory focuses on past experiences which may
not be falsifiable.
• Psychodynamic theory largely ignores biological and innate
aspects of personality
Exam hint: In evaluating psychodynamic psychotherapy the
examiner will expect you to compare and contrast with other
methods. Your answers should be thorough and clearly
structured with evidence of coherent elaboration of relevant
similarities and differences between treatment methods.
Glossary:
• Countertransference: The psychotherapist’s unconscious
feeling response to the client’s transference projections.
• Defense mechanisms: Freud identified a number of unconscious
mechanisms to keep conflict out of conscious awareness
including denial, repression and intellectualization.
• Dream analysis: Method used in psychodynamic therapies
where the therapist and client together work to uncover the
unconscious (latent) meaning of dreams.
• Free association: Method used in psychodynamic therapies
where the client is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind
without censoring their thoughts.
• Idiographic: Theories based on the study of an individual
(opposite of nomothetic).
• Latent: The unconscious meaning of dreams which underlies
the manifest or remembered content.
• Mindfulness: A technique developed from Buddhism which
involves learning to pay attention in the moment and without
judgment of self or others.
• Neurotic: Term used by psychodynamic therapists to refer to
disorders caused by unconscious conflicts such as depression.
• Open-ended: Types of therapy which do not have an end date
at the beginning, such as psychoanalysis. Unlike brief
psychotherapy.
• Systemic: Relating to systems such as family systems,
workplace systems or wider social and cultural systems.
• Transference: Projection of feelings from significant
relationships onto the psychotherapist.
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133 - Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Psychology Factsheet

Worksheet: Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Name

1. What are the client and the therapist doing during free association?

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2. What is the purpose of dream analysis?

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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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