Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Can We Look at the Hurt Together?
Simply put, we all need therapy right now, don't we? I mean, we’re all seeking it. In a recent poll by the American Psychological Association (APA) conducted in November 2020, therapists reported seeing a surge of new patients coming to therapy because of anxiety and depression. However, seeking help for our pain is no easy task. You have to spend hours typing in keyword searches on Google like “psychotherapy in my area” or scroll through the lists of faces on sites like PsychologyToday, InclusiveTherapists, or the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network. We think to ourselves things like, “This person’s face and shirt look trustworthy.” However, once you have done the work to select a therapist and booked a first session, there is always the thought, “Do I really want to do this?” It’s intuitively understood by most of us that to overcome hurt and pain, we need to process it, but the idea of sitting with someone to do so can be intimidating and daunting. Psychodynamic psychotherapy, you know the therapy originated by Freud, by its very nature, can help us to make the process of healing from our pain and hurt more accessible.
So, what is psychodynamic psychotherapy? According to Jonathan Shedler, a researcher, consultant, and therapist:
Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy refers to a range of treatments based on psychoanalytic concepts and methods that involve less frequent meetings and may be considerably briefer than psychoanalysis proper. Session frequency is typically once or twice per week, and the treatment may be either time-limited or open-ended. The essence of psychodynamic therapy is exploring those aspects of self that are not fully known, especially as they are manifested and potentially influenced in the therapy relationship. Shedler purports that psychodynamic psychotherapies have seven distinctive features:
Focus on affect and expression of emotion
Exploration of attempts to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings
Identification of recurring themes and patterns
Discussion of past experience (developmental focus)
Focus on interpersonal relations
Focus on the therapy relationship
Exploration of fantasy life
No matter how we spin it, we usually need to talk about caregivers at some point, right? Psychodynamic psychotherapy is accessible because it allows us the freedom to say whatever is on our mind--free associate-- and also identify themes or patterns in relationships with others. The therapist has no expectation of us except that we speak our minds about our experience at that time. I mean, who doesn’t need a nonjudgmental person to bear witness to our pain that we can open up to, where things are kept confidential, and who we can even be brave enough to cry in front of at some point?! The freedom to say and experience all of this is what makes psychodynamic psychotherapy so accessible. We have room to explore, identify, experience, and be with our thoughts and feelings while a trained psychodynamic therapist guides us in the process. The psychodynamic psychotherapist not only acts as a guide but also aids us by pointing out our defenses and feelings that we are avoiding. They can help us experience and be with painful emotions, enabling us to realize that we can tolerate them and are not alone with them.