Demystifying psychodynamic therapy

Intro music: Church of 8 Wheels by Otis McDonald

In this video, I explain what actually happens in psychodynamic or insight-oriented therapy, using my own journey with this type of therapy as an example. What are the interventions that psychodynamic therapists actually use? How do we decide what to say to clients? How do we help clients break from maladaptive patterns? I hope this video helps you demystify depth-focused therapy.

Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:57 My psychodynamic epiphany
3:52 What I’ve gained from it
6:59 “But I’m already self-aware!”
9:39 Interventions in the therapy room

[lanal]

I spent almost a decade in psychodynamic psychotherapy. It did so much for me that I am now starting my own education to become a psychotherapist.

[mezmrzr]

I am really glad to have come across this video about Psychodynamic Therapy. For all this time that I have encountered and face my own problems, I believe this is the kind of approach that I really wanted to do. One of the clear reason why I’m having a hard time to process other insights might be also a part of the fact that I’m trying to try to dive deeper but I know for the fact that I am not yet ready because I do not have my own safety net. Anyway, I believe the video gave me a big push in pursuing other paths of my own psyche and I am really looking forward to the future that there is for me. Thank you, Ana!

[lmroecv]

Did you just finish your doctorate? Congrats! 🎉

[aks]

Honestly I can totally relate have had a couple of months of Psychodynamic Therapy, I changed after feeling awful and more confused after my CBT sessions. It felt like I was in this structured schedule and it felt so forced and un-natural and overly semantic. Psychodynamic therapy lets my feel air and breathe after a session. I don't feel shame after. It helps me understand myself and my history to understand and empathise on why I am the way I am. Life is hard but this decision is something I fully reccommend.

[melissachinnici]

my old therapist was like this and some sessions I felt I learned nothing in some session, but when reflecting the last year or so I realized just how much we tackled. he mirrored me a lot, too. if I was silient, he was silent, etc. I think I want to go back having gotten my Psych degree recently. I feel I understand him a lot better.

[justinnguyen]

As someone who has been doing psychodynamic therapy for years, I have to say it is one of the best things I ever done. It's scary, its encouraging, it's confusing, it's insightful, it's dull, and it's exciting.

I think if you have the courage and opportunity to do psychodynamic therapy with a good psychologist, take it, you will learn so much about yourself. Sometimes it is obtuse or boring or confronting, but it is important to keep in the back of your mind that you are always learning more about yourself.

As Ana said, it is a bit frustrating when you aren't given activities or timelines for expectations like in CBT or schema based therapies (especially if you're a bit type A like me lol). It's about becoming self aware and then making the choice to move away from learned automatic lines of thinking that are unhealthy.

Good luck to everyone on their mental health journey! You all can do it!

[wiseone]

Other people can see things about ourselves that we cannot see. Ray Dalio speaks about ego barriers and ego blind spots (defence mechanisms) we all possess to differing things unique to the person. The more awareness you can gain about these the better off you become and the less suffering you will experience.

[willimeier]

What I find interesting is that I have found many aspects of this in CBT as well, especially in third wave approaches like ACT (for example noticing defense mechanisms and experiential avoidance, or the therapist relationship being one that breaks the patient's usual relationship patterns). In my opinion a good CB therapist is also aware of these aspects and goes beyond worksheets and cognitive restructuring.

[Paxility]

Your video touches in something I've been feeling for a while know.

Looking into myself and my upbringing I have logically recognised a lot of things about myself. For example that I likely have a fearful avoidant attachment style.

Due to hypervigilance at least 50% of my brain is always focused on analysing the social dynamics around me.

However that doesn't help me much. Knowing all that doesn't make me feel any differently. So now I'm just stuck watching myself repeating the same patterns over and over.

[marcossilveira]

As someone also struggles with asking for help and receiving validation, it’s good to see it’s not just me. I’m curious to see what I’ll discover once I re-enter therapy as a future counselor myself

[nihalhathaway]

this is amazing, really eye-opening! I realized I'm in psychodynamic therapy since half a year haha. Would love to hear more about this by you.

[samw]

Trying to choose whether to study psychodynamic or humanistic counselling and this is a really clear insight into the former. Thanks a lot

[GustavAnker]

Excellent information Ana. Makes me want to become a psychodynamic therapist as well.

[anNiE-hiyd]

i hate when i’m in CBT or DBT and they pull up worksheets. Idk it’s so surface level . After 8 years of in and out of this type of “therapy” i just relied on youtube videos and friends on philosophical conversations and things we approach so we recognize our patterns cuz at the end of the day It’s Us individuals making the change happen . Therapy just adds as a plus . However i have been trying to find a psychodynamic therapist but they are so hard to find especially on my Medicaid Mental Services Plan

[rebekahnewman]

Never been so early! I’m so excited to learn about this topic, thanks Dr. Yudin 🎉

[MalcolmMcDole]

Super helpful video. Thanks for using examples to explain the concepts!

[WOKELENSUS]

Your videos are always so motivating. Keep it up!

[rjerezz]

Thanks for making this video. Blessings.

[oponomo]

All very interesting! Thanks for sharing Ana. I'd be careful with the dreams though, as we have no way to verify if our interpretation to them are accurate or not. I have the wildest dreams with the weirdest characters and roles that i couldn't for the life of me bring into the slimest cohesion.

[MsInescruz]

I'm so happy to hear your perspective on psychodynamic therapy. I have been a patient of psychoanalytic psychotherapy for 7 years now and am currently finishing my bachelor's degree in psychology, looking towards specializing in my master's (in Portugal, you only need master's and a year of mentored work to become a licensed clinical psychologist) in Psychodynamic Therapy. I must say that I share your views on what CBT "lacks" compared to what psychodynamic therapy can provide, and I find it very hard to find similar views with my peers in university, as all are very driven towards CBT. So I appreciate the chance of identification! I also have thought for a long time to write about the sessions, but have never done it, and I suspect you've been having such great improvements thanks to that bonus work, so I'm going to try to do the same. I'm currently pregnant for the first time and this transformative time has brought a whole new set of obstacles, and i need all the help i can get to keep developing my insight and with that a more enjoyable meaningful life. Thank you!