Psychodynamic Therapy
When symptoms persist or patterns repeat, it can be helpful to explore the underlying causes. Psychodynamic therapy offers a structured, reflective space to examine early experiences, unconscious processes, and relational patterns. This deeper understanding supports long-term emotional change and improved psychological wellbeing.
What Is Psychodynamic Therapy?
Psychodynamic therapy is a form of talk therapy that helps you understand the deeper roots of your emotional pain. It focuses not only on symptoms, but also on unconscious feelings, early experiences, and patterns in relationships. These often lie beneath the surface but shape how we feel, think, and relate today.
While many therapies focus on modifying thoughts or behaviours, psychodynamic therapy helps you understand why those thoughts and behaviours exist in the first place. It aims to create lasting change through self-awareness, emotional insight, and a deeper understanding of relationship patterns. For example, it asks not just how to manage anxiety—but why the anxiety exists in the first place. Psychodynamic therapy is often slower-paced and less structured than skills-based approaches, but it aims for deep, lasting change, not just symptom relief.
At MyLife Psychologists, we use a contemporary approach to psychodynamic therapy – collaborative, compassionate, and grounded in evidence – tailored to your individual needs and goals.
What Happens in Psychodynamic Therapy?
Understanding Emotions
Therapy provides space to name and explore feelings. When emotions are spoken, they become less overwhelming and easier to understand. This helps people feel more in touch with themselves, not just their thoughts.
Exploring Defences
We all develop unconscious ways of protecting ourselves from pain – such as avoiding, overthinking, or minimising. These defences may have once served a purpose but can now keep you stuck in old patterns and may block connection with others. Therapy gently helps you recognise these patterns and explore whether they still serve you.
Recognising Life Patterns
Many people repeat certain relational or emotional patterns – often without realising it. These can show up in work, love, or friendships. Therapy helps you notice these themes, understand where they come from, and consider new ways of responding. By understanding the “why” behind our choices, we create space for new ones.
Revisiting the Past
Our early experiences – especially with caregivers – shape our sense of safety and connection. In psychodynamic therapy, you’ll explore how these early dynamics still influence your current life. This awareness helps you respond with more freedom, rather than from old wounds.
Looking at Relationships
The therapy relationship itself can be a powerful tool for insight. Patterns that arise in therapy often reflect those in the outside world. Exploring these dynamics in a safe space helps you shift how you relate – not just in therapy, but in all relationships.
Exploring Inner Life
Daydreams, fantasies, and stray thoughts are welcome in therapy. These less conscious parts of the mind often carry important clues about our hopes, fears, and longings. Giving voice to these often-hidden parts brings greater understanding and emotional freedom.
When is Psychodynamic Therapy Useful?
Psychodynamic therapy supports people through a wide range of difficulties, including:
- Depression and low mood
- Bipolar disorder
- Anxiety, panic, and social fears
- Obsessive thoughts and behaviours
- Postpartum depression and perinatal distress
- PTSD, complex trauma, and childhood trauma
- Personality patterns and identity confusion
- Eating and body image concerns
- Grief, loss, and life transitions
- Physical symptoms without clear medical cause
- Relationship issues and attachment wounds
Is Psychodynamic Therapy Right For Me?
This approach may be helpful if you feel stuck in patterns that feel difficult to change, or if you want to understand yourself more deeply. Many people seek this approach when they sense that their struggles are rooted in more than just surface-level issues, and it can be helpful if you’ve tried other forms of therapy but still feel something unresolved beneath the surface.
This therapy is particularly well suited for those who are open to exploring how past experiences and inner emotional life influence their current wellbeing, and for those people who want to understand themselves more deeply and grow over time.
While change doesn’t happen overnight, the insight and self-awareness gained through this work can be lasting and meaningful.
