Adult Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy involves treating patients’ mental problem as well as personality disorders by using real and deep relations between a patient and a therapist. Face-to-face therapeutic meetings are meant to better patients’ mental state, decrease or altogether eliminate any symptoms they experience and thus improve their overall quality of life and everyday functioning.
What is Psychodynamic Psychotherapy?
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a method of treatment based on psychoanalytical theories. The most fundamental notion in those theories is that unconscious processes significantly influence people’s psyche and that forging close relationships with others is treated as one of the most crucial human desires. We need to look for sources of human functioning, i.e. their thoughts, emotions, various behaviours but also symptoms of different disorders, in unconscious psychological mechanisms to which a patient does not have access. During a therapeutical process learnt patterns of everyday functioning repeat involuntarily in relation to a therapist, which becomes the basis for introducing changes.
Therapeutical work through the analysis of what takes place “here and now” (the analysis of transference and countertransference) involves giving a patient easier access to more mature comprehension of their own reality both external and internal. The ultimate goal of the treatment process is better comprehension of oneself, one’s own possibilities and ways of dealing with limitations as well as recognising unconscious patterns of forming and maintaining relations with others. Some tangible effects of the therapeutical process are, among others: general improvement of one’s mental and social functioning, resolving particular issues and remission of symptoms.
What does a session look like?
Therapeutical meetings are a form of a dialogue during which a patient is encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings, dreams and fantasies, because they reveal the world of unconscious needs, conflicts and experiences. A therapist is a partner and a guide in this conversation. It is the therapist who, in a dynamic and involved way and through the use appropriate methods, helps the patient to discover and then realise nonadaptive mechanisms of their functioning in the atmosphere of confidentiality. Personality tests, exercises or longterm tasks are not used in this form of therapy The process of treatment unfolds mainly through deep therapeutical relation, on the basis of which a patient learns a new, fresh and deeper insight into their problems and dilemmas. The aim of therapy is to eliminate symptoms or reduce them, implement a new understanding of self and reality in which a patient functions, improve their mental state and a greater sense of casualty.
How long does treatment last?
The time of treatment depends on the seriousness and chronicity of a disorder, patient’s motivation to change and their mental skills. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a process lasting usually form a few months to a few years. Short-term therapy lasting a year or shorter may be sufficient for some patients, however, it is essential to emphasise that a longer process will be required for others to achieve better results.
What are consultation meetings?
An individual therapeutical process is always preceded by a few consultation meetings, during which a specialist attempts to establish motivations driving a patient to visit the therapist, find out their context, determine aims of cooperation as well as make preliminary diagnosis. Introductory sessions provide a patient and a therapist with time to make decisions regarding further cooperation between them, establishing formal conditions of such cooperation and a so-called setting. Depending on the diagnosis, treatment requirements and patient’s motivation to change, the consultation stage ends with making a therapeutical agreement i.e. a contract between a therapist and a patient regarding conditions for psychotherapy (the frequency of meetings, the place where sessions will occur and other rules of the planned treatment).
How often do sessions take place?
Therapeutical sessions take place once or twice a week always with the same therapist and last between 45 and 50 minutes. After making preliminary assessment, based on the reported problem and depending on patient’s possibilities, the therapist makes a decision regarding the form of therapy (insight or supportive) and informs their patient about the frequency of meetings. Starting the therapeutical process, the patient and the therapist enter into an oral or written psychotherapeutic agreement, which states the most important premises, aims and conditions of their sessions mutually agreed during a consultation and accepted by both sides.
Who is psychodynamic psychotherapy aimed at?
Virtually any person who requites psychodynamic treatment and exhibits motivation to change can be the subject of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The decision to start therapy always involves mental effort and courage. Psychodynamic treatment can be applied when treating very young patients. When it comes to children, sessions take a form of a play moderated by the psychotherapist. In case of adolescents and adults, meetings remind a dialogue based on a deep therapeutical relation. Few contraindications to insight therapy are as follows: anti-social personality, active addiction to psychoactive substances, and lowered intellectual level.
Indications for individual therapy for adults
• anxiety disorders (e.g. panic attacks, phobias, anxiety of various etiologies)
• psychosomatic problems (e.g. aches and pains in various part of the body, migraines, dermatological problems)
• neurotic disorders (obsessive thoughts, compulsion, symptoms of hypochondria)
• personality disorders
• problems with sleeping (e.g. insomnia, nightmares, problems with falling asleep)
• eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, binge eating)
• problems of sexual nature (fear of initiating or continuing sexual activity, premature ejaculation, anorgasmia)
• dilemmas related to sexual identity
• difficulties in personal and professional relations
• lack of life satisfaction, apathy, chronic tiredness
• low self-esteem, a sense of rejection and isolation
• inhibited grief, traumas
Is psychodynamic psychotherapy an effective way of treatment?
According to the results of many studies, psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective in treating a wide range of disorders and dysfunctions: personality disorders, depressive disorders, eating disorders, psychosomatic anxiety disorders and neuroses. In comparison to other psychotherapeutic approaches psychodynamic psychotherapy techniques not only enable reduction or elimination of bothersome symptoms but most of all lead to permanent improvement in personal and social functioning of a patient. Moreover, this kind of psychological support may be used as a tool in the process of developing one’s personality. Apart from therapist’s skills, knowledge and personality, the following can also influence the effectiveness of therapy: patient’s motivation, attending sessions systematically and regularly, readiness to embrace change, and patient’s general engagement in the therapeutical process.