Long Term Psychodynamic Therapy Technique

Introduction to Psychodynamic Therapy Technique and its Aims

Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-based psychotherapy approach typically pursued in an open-ended manner, especially when attended for the long term, though breaks and returns in the process are common. It subsumes that much of the way we move through life, how we think, feel, and respond is driven by factors outside of our conscious awareness.

These may be deeply held drives, fears, needs, motivations, and remnants from emotional injuries that have occurred across our lifespan; it trusts that by bringing these unconscious aspects of our mental life to the surface of our awareness, we can begin to make conscious shifts to how we show up and engage with the world around us. Read on to learn about some of the therapy’s key techniques and principles.

Identifying Core Patterns of Behaviour, Engagement, and Resistance to Engagement
Exploration of Relationships, Including the Therapeutic Relationship
Investigation of Childhood, Early Life, and the Past
Understanding that all Behaviour, Even Unhelpful Behaviour, Tries to Serve a Purpose
A Focus on Emotion in Psychodynamic Therapy Technique
Long Term Psychodynamic Therapy FAQs
Therapy Insights

Identifying Core Patterns of Behaviour, Engagement, and Resistance to Engagement

People may choose a psychodynamic approach to therapy when their ways of engaging, feeling, and thinking, or resisting engagement with the world, no longer feel supportive or growth promoting to them. They may feel stuck, chronically dissatisfied, or stagnant in a particular area. It seeks to identify with clients their characteristic ways of being or dealing with challenges, while exploring the lesser-known motivations for their patterns of engagement with the world.

Exploration of Relationships, Including the Therapeutic Relationship

The themes that arise for clients in psychodynamic therapy are often viewed through a relational lens – our relationships to current people in our lives, past people, ourselves, our environments, our communities, and the interests that inform our identities. It also holds that much insight into clients’ ways of being with others can come from reflecting on their dynamic with their therapist, offering a contained space for talking through and understanding relational impact.

Investigation of Childhood, Early Life, and the Past

Psychodynamic therapy techniques consider the ways each individual carries and is influenced by their past, their upbringing, and how they’ve catalogued or made sense of events that happened to them. These techniques view the past as foundational to understanding the present and see change as more accessible when individuals are understood within the context of their experiences.

Understanding that all Behaviour, Even Unhelpful Behaviour, Tries to Serve a Purpose

Rather than viewing maladaptive or stress-provoking behaviours as needing to be forcefully stopped, eradicated, or fixed, psychodynamic therapy leans into the “why” of clients’ behaviours. It asks what a behaviour may be attempting to do for the client even if unclear or unhelpful; it views a behaviour not as isolated, but as informed by the client’s life context.

A Focus on Emotion in Psychodynamic Therapy Technique

The way we respond emotionally to different situations, be that with heightened or subdued emotion, can give us perspective into how we take in experiences, how we armour ourselves, what we protect ourselves against, and where our vulnerabilities lie. In psychodynamic therapy, we follow emotional expression to see where it might lead.

Please feel welcome to reach out via my contact page for an initial 20-minute virtual consultation to speak more about how sessions with me could support you.

Long Term Psychodynamic Therapy FAQs

Is Psychodynamic Therapy the Same as Psychoanalysis?

While psychodynamic therapy comes from similar roots as modern-day psychoanalysis, it is typically pursued at a less intensive interval, typically once a week, or every other week. While both explore the unconscious aspects of human experience, psychodynamic therapy may focus more equally on past and present factors, as well as on the influence of client and therapist on one another throughout the work, potentially offering the client relational insights in session.

What’s Your Experience with Long Term Psychodynamic Therapy?

My primary psychotherapeutic training with the Ontario Psychotherapy and Counselling College focused on a long-term psychodynamic model of practice; in my clinical practicum I used this model predominantly with clients over multiple years to support them with making desired shifts in their lives and arriving at self understanding. It continues to serve as my foundational modality as a therapist, even when I bring other modalities to the forefront of treatment.

What if I Want to Focus on One Problem for the Short Term?

It’s possible to cater a psychodynamic approach to a time limited setting; typically, the client and I will zero in on one presenting problem and address prospective resistance or avoidance faster. Because of its intensive nature, it may demand clients remain open to being challenged sooner.

What if Psychodynamic Therapy isn’t for Me?

A psychodynamic approach may be overwhelming, and counterproductive for some people, particularly those who are experiencing high levels of stress in the here and now, significantly struggling to manage their present moment. It may be used in tandem with other approaches such as supportive and strength-based psychotherapies or behavioural therapies. When clients feel stronger and want to explore root causes of their feelings or outlooks on life, we may then focus more on these unconscious aspects and how the client may be impacted by them.

Therapy Insights

What Is Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria?

Updated on: May 12, 2025