Any attempt to link brain neural activity and psychodynamic concepts requires a tremendous conceptual leap. Such a leap may be facilitated if a common language between brain and mind can be devised. System theory proposes formulations that may aid in reconceptualizing psychodynamic descriptions in terms of neural organizations in the brain. Once adopted, these formulations can help to generate ...

BACKGROUND In 2008, Leichsenring and Rabung performed a meta-analysis of 8 studies of longer-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (LTPP). The work was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (vol. 300, pp 1551-1565), and they concluded that LTPP was more effective than shorter-term therapies. METHOD Given that such claims have the potential to influence treatment decisions an...

Clinical decision-making about suitability for psychological therapies is hampered by limitations of psychotherapy research and our lack of understanding of therapeutic mechanisms. Watzke et al's important randomised controlled study offers apparent validation for clinical judgement in relation to suitability for psychodynamic psychotherapy but also highlights the negative effects of unselected...

BACKGROUND Previous research has shown that Short Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy (SPSP) is an effective alternative to pharmacotherapy and combined treatment (SPSP and pharmacotherapy) in the treatment of depressed outpatients. The question remains, however, how Short Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy compares with other established psychotherapy methods. The present study compares...

In this article, the authors present a psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy approach for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood abuse. This neurobiologically informed, phase-oriented treatment approach, which has been developed in Germany during the past 20 years, takes into account the broad comorbidity and the large degree of ego-function impairment typically found in t...

The concept of the collaborative relationship between patient and therapist has its roots in the psychodynamic literature. We trace the concept of collaboration in psychodynamic psychotherapy from classical psychoanalysis to contemporary psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies. The active collaboration between the participants central to Bordin's pan-theoretical perspective on the alliance i...

The therapeutic alliance is considered as one of the active relational factors to improve the outcome of patients engaged in a psychotherapeutic process. Our objective was to examine the role played by the therapeutic alliance in psychodynamic versus supportive psychotherapy. We examined data from a previously published randomized controlled study. Outpatients suffering from depression (n=74) r...

Time-limited psychodynamic psychotherapy is garnering empirical support as an intervention for clinical depression. However, research is needed to examine the efficacy of psychodynamic approaches among patients presenting with diverse psychiatric and medical problems. This case study examined the efficacy of eight sessions of pragmatic psychodynamic psychotherapy (PPP) in treating a woman with ...

BACKGROUND Behavioral dyscontrol and violations of treatment contracts are serious clinical problems during psychotherapy, especially in treating patients with personality disorders. However, little is known about predictors of these treatment-interfering phenomena. OBJECTIVE To identify psychodynamic personality characteristics that can interfere with the psychotherapy process as indicated b...

Is psychodynamic therapy (PT) an evidence-based practice? What makes PT work? In the present article we shall discuss empirical evidence for these as well as other vital questions. First, we shall examine the existing findings concerning two of the most widespread myths about PT: (1) PT is not an evidence-based therapy; (2) PT is not directed at and, therefore, not effective at alleviating symp...