Is Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for you?

Many people enter therapy at their wits' end with the expectation of a quick relief. There is this widespread belief that the therapist has magical tools to help them fix the problems or see the world anew, happy and peaceful. Well, the magical tool here is the uninhibited and honest talking of the client. For this particular reason, psychotherapy is also known as the "talking cure".

In psychodynamic psychotherapy, everything is essentially in the client's talking. The well-trained therapist's role is to listen non judgmentally; to make links between the past and the present symptoms; and to interpret what he/she thinks is going on with the client in order to increase the latter's awareness. The rest is almost all up to the client: Is he/she able to think about therapist's interpretation? Can she/he agree/disagree with the therapist? Does he/she have enough ego-strength to face the pain of the process? We can add several other  questions to this list to show the essence of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The questions above also show why most people quit prematurely.

Take a look at the list below to decide whether this kind of in-depth therapy is for you.

• You realize troublesome patterns in your relationships or behaviors.
   
• You want help with feelings/ issues that have bothered you for a long time.
   
• You want help for a problem that is unclear to you.
   
• You tried other type of therapies in the past or medications that didn't help as much as you had hoped.
   
• You are curious about yourself and open to explore your feelings.
   
• You are open to a less structured, collaborative exploration, which would not require "homework", exercises or worksheets. 

If you answered "yes" to most questions above and are ready for a long-term therapy process, which will lead you towards a less defensive and more courageous life,  psychodynamic psychotherapy might be for you.