Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Can you do Depth-based Psychodynamic Psychotherapy when you have Limited Time?

Psychodynamic therapy among other depth-based therapy approaches typically does not put a limit on clients with regards to the number of sessions they’re welcome to pursue and holds change to be a gradual process occurring over time. That said, clients may have their own limits on time, and life circumstances that demand a current investment of their time and their self into exploring a very specific problem.

It is at this point that taking a more intensive approach over the short term to explore a key issue that may be beneficial. While outcomes in therapy generally cannot be guaranteed or assured, short term psychodynamic psychotherapy can offer insight into a pressing challenge in our lives and help us to work through how we might navigate it.

Differences Between Long Term and Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Where long term psychodynamic psychotherapy is more open ended and explores multiple facets of the client’s life simultaneously within treatment, in short term psychodynamic psychotherapy, approaches are adjusted to address one main problem. It may ask clients to engage with the therapeutic process earlier on into treatment when in a time limited setting.

What a Therapist Might Focus on when Doing Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Depending on the issue you bring in, and if a short term psychodynamic approach is indicated to support you, you and your therapist may explore the emotions that get activated in you when the issue is at the forefront of your mind, fears, longings, and desires that underly your key issue, ways you might protect yourself in relation to the issue, and past events that may be influencing the lens with which you view it now, holding that landing in self awareness is often the first step to shifting our behaviours and outlook on experiences.

If Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy sparks your interest, please feel welcome to reach out via my contact page for an initial 20-minute virtual consultation to discuss how sessions with me could support you.

Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy FAQs

Is Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Solution Focused?

Rather than focusing on finding an antidote or solution to a problem, psychodynamic work is interested in providing you with more information about how you feel, respecting you in the context of your present-day difficulties, and investigates the ways your current experiences may be informed by other interconnected aspects, such as your past, your experience of systems or relationships, your dreams, ambitions and fears, or your self concept. It is nondirective, though it does attempt to solidify a sense of authentic knowing, so clients can make more informed choices about their life’s direction, or their approach to encountering a challenge. The ultimate direction clients choose for their lives is their own.

How Many Sessions is Typical of Short Term Psychodynamic Work?

This will vary for every therapist and client. It is common for depth-based therapies to allow for twelve to twenty-four sessions to explore something specific, more if extended to a longer-term focus. Sessions occurring once a week within time-limited therapies is common. This however will depend on clients, their relationship to the therapy space, their priorities, and their readiness.

What if I find I have more to unpack?

It is not uncommon for short term psychotherapy to take on a longer term focus depending on what clients discover about themselves through the work, or to shift towards a more skills-oriented approach after landing with certain insights and wanting to take certain actions or moves towards change. You’re always welcome to speak to your therapist about a potential shift in direction, what may be driving it, and what you hope to gain from it. Your therapist will explore with you potential risks and benefits of changing approaches and should be able to re-refer you to another clinician if something is not within their expertise, experience, or scope of practice.

How do you define psychodynamic therapy?

Psychodynamic therapy is defined as a therapeutic method that helps individuals explore past experiences and unconscious processes to better understand and improve their current mental health.

What are examples of psychodynamic therapy techniques?

Examples of psychodynamic therapy techniques include free association, dream analysis, transference exploration, and examining early childhood experiences.

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Updated on: May 12, 2025