Anyone Tried Psychodynamic Therapy?

[MEME]

What are your thoughts on it? did it help you ?
How were the first few sessions?

 

[Abstract]

Psychodynamic therapy was actually pretty helpful for me. Or should I rather say it was way more helpful and less damaging than CBT for me at that time in my life. I will however say that I wouldn't have it again if it wasn;t part of many other things. And that I would likely have been better off with other types of therapy. Thank goodness it got me away from CBT at the time though.

It was great for letting me have space in therapy and to find self awareness and lessen denial. It was unhelpful in giving me understanding of trauma or PTSD and was not reassuring enough. I think its potentially helpful on the relational trauma side of things. In other words the more attachment based stuff. Great for identifying patterns in ones life.

For me I wish the person:
Combined it with DBT, mindfulness or other similar therapies.
Had specialist trauma training and experience (she so did not and hence not ideal).
Had an understanding of how to adjust the whole distance aspect of this considering trauma injuries.
Had more understanding of balancing personal responsibility (more appropriate to non big T trauma injuries) and validation.
Had an understanding that this would not be the whole solution for PTSD if the person was just a pure psychodymic t.

Just my take and experience and I think it entirely depends on what you need and want, where you are at presently in healing, and what other skills and experience your t has.

Good luck! :)

 

[void]

Ask Woody Allen who's been in it for 37 yrs....hehehe

These T's will tell you it is a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong process and an $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ one.

So if your indep. wealthy, the navel gazing can be very interesting, no doubt.

You should know that many modern T's do NOT take it very seriously anymore and favor CBT and Neuroscience-based approaches overall.

Many on here are finding the Somatic approaches to be most helpful.

Be well.:hug:

 

[joeylittle]

Ask Woody Allen who's been in it for 37 yrs....hehehe

I think you may be confusing psychodynamic with psychoanalysis...Classic psychoanalysis, as conceived by Freud, is what we picture as lying on a couch, talking forever, and the therapist remaining mostly silent. It's what therapy looked like for a really long time.

Psychodynamic is what emerged from psychoanalysis becoming too time intensive, rigid, limited. The basic principles are similar, in that you're looking at how early development shapes personality and the choices people make in work, relationships, etc.

But, the emphasis is on the exchange between the client and therapist. The therapist engages. Psychodynamic can be practiced many different ways, and with many different influences guiding the therapist. The majority of contemporary 'talk' therapy is psychodynamic.

This link is pretty good, as an overview: Core Principles of Psychodynamic Therapy Approach

 

[Abstract]

Agreed. And it can be closer to the original and fairly rigid or very loosely related. The latter can especially be the case where the t does other types of therapy too. If its done more rigidly then principles such as transference and counter transference, the subconscious, the past effecting the present, patterns in relationships, defence mechanisms (denial, dissociation etc) and psycho sexual development (interference in development having results later) will all be part of it. Because of the transference issue (PD t's use transference to understand and treat the client) there tends to be less disclosure and more distance in therapy. It can feel "cooler" than person centred t for example. The t doesn't want to be in that space too much.

I'm not sure I would ever have started the process of realisation of my levels of dissociation without having done this. It started connecting the dots. Previous CBT disconnected them more (I was in denial about trauma and being treated for eating disorders and depression). Unfortunately my t didn't understand trauma so there was bad fallout too.

PS. Just realised too that I wasn't clear about one thing in my first post. It did give me insight into the past and how it affected the present. That's largely what PD t is about. When I say it wasn't helpful when it came to giving me understanding of trauma or PTSD that may well be down to me being unaware/in deep denial and my t not having enough knowledge. It wasn't a topic. Psychodynamic therapy is however not at all prescriptive and goes out of its way to avoid being prescriptive. Feedback yes absolutely but not active advice or info. I can't see a strictly psychodynamic t explaining and teaching grounding techniques or what PTSD symptoms entail. Other talk therapies can be different and when a therapist uses multiple modalities I think that can resolved those limitations. I loved the non prescriptive side of it at the time but it can have down sides.

 

[Abstract]

I looked at your other thread. Is this about the same therapist or a new one? It seems to me you weren't feeling enough reassurance or connection from/with your t. If he is then PD therapist the PD therapy can feel a little "cool" and especially if the person isn't specifically trained in trauma. It depends on many other factors though.

Are you looking at new therapists and styles of t? What is it that you feel you need that you haven't been getting? There are many types of t and I think both the individual t and we connect with them, and the style of therapy and well it suits us can make a huge difference. I relate to some of the feelings you discussed in relation to your therapy.

 

[MEME]

This is the new T. Hes PD. First session was interesting and i liked the content.
Ofcourse no connection with the T, and quite opposite of my prev. T. in many ways.
I miss my prev. T. been seeing him for 2 yrs. I cancel future appts and havent seen him for about a month.
I havent heard a peep from him. I know they dont chase clients etc. But just a lil hope all is well ..would ve sufficed.
But nope.

What i want from him.
Acceptence.
I want to feel i am okay the way i am.but i dont. Cause he forgets important things, doesnt follow up on issues, doesnt try to get me to reach my goals(which he has a list of) etc.
I keep on trying to be good enough for him to care.
He just doesnt.
I have run out of excuses to give myself on his behalf, just so i can go see him.
its clear... i am just a low priority client of his. Cant even bother to read my notes from prev session.
I hardly gained anything from his sessions... Nothing productive or insightful, the guy doesnt wanna put any effort.

Yet here i am, missing him.
Again trying to find my way back to him somehow.
Just try one more session.
Another part says have self respect. Save your money for something useful.

Late night thoughts.
Back to topic. PD so far looks promising. Just i am not a fan of the T doing it. Hes the only one close by who does this kind of therapy.

Prev. T was cbt/dbt

 

[Deleted member 29920]

k Woody Allen

"New York Stories!" :D

I think I'd prefer it over cbt.