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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
Short-term dynamic therapy (STDT) uses the same basic principles as psychoanalytic psychotherapy, but with differing methods of practice and somewhat different goals. The purpose of STDT is to help the patient acquire insight into the role of life events and ongoing experiences that contribute to the presenting problems. An alliance with the therapist is also important, because support and guidance can help the patient through difficult conflicts. Early in the treatment, the therapist interprets the patient's defenses, resistance, transference, and other dynamics involved in the formation of symptoms. In STDT, the therapist takes a more active role than in traditional psychoanalysis. The therapist identifies defenses early and uses interpretations to help the patient understand the role of dynamics in the formation of the symptoms as well as in the development of the treatment process. Therapists using STDT identify thoughts and feelings of the patient that may be repressed or channeled inappropriately into actions or passivity. Such discussions can only take place within a context of trust. The patient's acceptance of interpretations may be most dependent on the relationship that is developed with the therapist. In the context of warmth, understanding, and empathy, a therapist's interpretations are more readily accepted. Emotional abreaction and negative reactions are encouraged and accepted in STDT within some limits and are used to point out the relevance of the therapeutic setting to the life problems of the patient. In STDT, inhibited behavior and depressed feelings are interpreted as covers for repressed emotions resulting from unexpressed feelings. Patients are encouraged to re-experience some of the painful events and feelings that have gone unresolved in their lives. Precipitating events for current symptoms are identified so that larger conflicts can be recalled. Transference in the therapeutic relationship also plays an important role in the STDT treatment process. The transference relationship is pointed out as a natural generalization from an earlier relationship, including the anticipated loss of the therapist at the completion of the intervention. STDT can be completed in up to 10 sessions, although it is not unusual to require at least 20 sessions, depending on the dynamics of the problem. |
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