What is psychodynamic therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy invites us to honor the complexity and be deeply curious about your human experience. The full range of your thoughts and feelings are welcomed with openness and interest. Our goal is to holistically address the root causes of your suffering so that you experience deep and lasting transformation that continues even after the therapy is over. Psychodynamic therapy acknowledges the role of the unconscious in your life and provides a way for us to understand your mind. We will recognize that symptoms, problems, and struggles have meaning, and that learning about their meaning– especially meaning that is outside your awareness—allows you to see your struggles in context. This leads to more freedom to make better choices based on this new learning about yourself. 

There are several defining features of psychodynamic therapy. Our work will focus on your feelings and emotional life. We will support you in putting words to feelings that may be troubling, threatening, or unacknowledged. We will be curious about ways you avoid things that are threatening or frightening with the goal to better understand parts of yourself and your experience. We will identify recurring themes and ways you willingly or unwillingly recreate specific patterns in your life. We will explore past experiences as they bring greater understanding to the present. The therapeutic relationship we build together is crucial to our work and this includes thoughts or feelings you may have about your therapist. Your fantasy life– dreams, daydreams, wishes, passions– is also essential for us to understand. 

Change occurs when greater insight into your unconscious thoughts and feelings come together with the present-moment, embodied, and relational experience of the therapy process. The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy has been well documented, and I’m happy to provide recent literature on its effectiveness. You may also read here, here, here, and here.