What is depth psychology?
If all of the types of psychology were symbolized as a seaside port, then depth psychology would be the seafaring ships and the deep-sea divers. Cognitive behavioral psychology would be the village on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Depth psychology surveys the underwater terrain and forges relationships with the whales, walruses, and sea forests, symbolically speaking. It looks for shipwrecks, and chests of lost jewels. In the Netflix documentary film, My Octopus Teacher, a diver befriends an octopus. The unconscious mind also wants to be discovered and valued.
In everyday life, the quirky, unintended, interruptive, forgetful, mistake-making side of ourselves makes appearances.
Depth psychology seeks understanding of the unconscious psyche and how it interacts with conscious life.
Psychodynamic therapy is a subcategory of depth psychology. It includes consideration of feelings, instincts, resistances, impulses, fantasies, and dreams.
Jungian psychotherapy is also under the umbrella of depth psychology.
Sometimes called analytical psychotherapy, it employs concepts developed by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/612188.Memories_Dreams_Reflections
The cornerstone of Jungian therapy is individuation—personal development catalyzed by the relationship with your innermost self. That personal development involves becoming aware of external influences—like culture, society and history—and also internal influences—like archetypes and complexes. For further understanding please see the section on this site titled Jungian Psychotherapy, and also visit my blog.
I use the principles of both general psychodynamic therapy and Jungian psychotherapy in my work. My approach is experiential, creative, insight-oriented, and collaborative.
Why do psychodynamic therapy?
Because it’s effective.
A psyche is like a landscape. It has uniqueness, assets, danger zones, precious minerals, and mysterious qualities. It also has fault lines that usually aren’t obvious. But when adversity comes, fault lines shift, and psychological earthquakes can happen.
Many therapy methods propel change. Research has proven that psychodynamic therapy not only generates an amount of change comparable to mainstream therapies, but the results tend to endure especially well.
In my experience, this is because psychodynamic therapy addresses fault lines. It changes the deeper structure of personality, so progress stands up over time.
It builds confidence.
Another reason to do psychodynamic therapy is to build confidence through self-knowledge. Here’s an example: Jung’s model of personality styles includes all the possible combinations of the following four sets of opposites:
- extroverted or introverted
- structured or spontaneous
- feeling or thinking
- operational (sensation) or intuitive
The qualities you use most frequently generate a score that suggests how you experience life. But did you know that every group also has a personality style? This means that if your own style is different from the culture where you live, it’s likely you’re getting messages that how you see things is wrong. This can cause self-doubt.
Let’s say you live in a culture that’s extroverted and operational. If you’re introspective and intuitive, you may feel like a salmon swimming up the St. Louis River near Duluth, or like a fish completely out of water.
It’s possible to dismiss the messages that cause self-doubt. This opens the possibility for you to appreciate your own style, uphold your own assets, and bring them confidently into the world. This is just one example of how self-knowledge can open doors.
Because of the therapeutic relationship.
Because it gives voice to your dreams.
A fourth reason to do psychodynamic therapy is that it can include dreamwork. Dreams offer a perspective outside the problem-solving you’ve already done. They often propel creativity, intuition, and improved access to feelings, which make life rich. They tend to reveal lost and repressed talents, while on the other hand they uncover hidden personality problems.
These problems can be related to a sub-personality called “the shadow” in Jungian psychology. Taking responsibility for your shadow augments the ability to listen, to love, and to act with humility and kindness. Many of the people I’ve assisted with dreamwork over the years have moved into a deeper sense of aliveness.
It transforms symptoms.
A fifth reason to do psychodynamic therapy is that it changes symptoms. As you listen and respond to what your psyche is expressing, your emotions and energy adjust. I’ve worked with people who’ve seen big changes in relation to anxiety, panic attacks, depression, relationship problems, grief and loss, self-esteem, career direction and personal growth.
The approach is to increase personal strength and flexibility, respond to the needs of the deeper psyche, and become more of your potential. This relieves your unconscious mind from carrying a burden of unused possibility and untapped energy that wants to seek a constructive pathway. We find those pathways, and then surprising things can happen.
What does research say about psychodynamic therapy?
Here are some studies and sources of research that confirm the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy within depth psychology. The three articles directly below are reviews of many research projects, so they offer concise collections of data. They can also be used as starting points for a deep investigation into existing research.
The Effectiveness of Psychodynamic Therapy: A comprehensive overview of randomized controlled trials of psychodynamic psychotherapies
Peter Lilliengren
This review of random controlled trials (RCTs) measured the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy from 1967 through 2022, as evidenced in 298 research projects. Analysis of the outcomes of these studies suggested that psychodynamic therapy typically exceeds results of inactive controls, and performs equally as well as other treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy. Most of the studies were conducted in western countries with adult participants. They investigated treatment of mood, psychosomatic, anxiety, and personality disorders. For the full article, visit the link below.
Lilliengren, P. (2023). A comprehensive overview of randomized controlled trials of psychodynamic psychotherapies. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 37(2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/02668734.2023.2197617
The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy: An up-to-date review
Falk Leichsenring and Christiane Steinert
This chapter in the text, Contemporary Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Evolving Clinical Practice (2019), presents the findings of a comprehensive review of randomized controlled trials measuring the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy. Psychodynamic therapy proved effective for treatment of depressive, anxiety, somatoform, eating, substance-related, and personality disorders. Psychodynamic therapy performed as well as other methods, and gains were still present at follow-up assessment. To read the entire article, visit this link:
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813373-6.00004-0Get rights and content
The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Jonathan Shedler
The author compiled a review of empirical studies, including random control trials (RTCs). In an article published in American Psychologist (2010), he outlined the results of seventeen meta-analyses of research on the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, and other methods. The analyses confirmed the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy when compared with other empirically validated methods. The studies cited had stringent measures of quality, including large effect sizes (a statistical measure of the practical significance of a research outcome). Diagnoses addressed within the studies included depression, anxiety, panic, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, substance-related disorders, and personality disorders.
The article also considered measures of personality strength. Many therapy methods seek to diminish symptoms as a primary goal. Psychodynamic therapy includes symptom reduction but also holds the development of personality strength plus access to inner resources as equally important and interrelated to symptom alleviation. Two studies used the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) to assess the development of these assets through psychodynamic therapy.
One study showed an increase in empathy, sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, the flexibility to acknowledge contrary standpoints, greater perceptual equilibrium, and a more active sense of humor. A second study measured personality attributes for 26 clients at the beginning and end of psychodynamic treatment.
All of the respondents showed decreases in symptoms accompanied by “greater satisfaction in pursuing long-term goals, enjoyment of challenges and pleasure in accomplishments, ability to utilize talents and abilities, contentment in life’s activities, empathy for others, interpersonal assertiveness and effectiveness, ability to hear and benefit from emotionally threatening information, and resolution of past painful experiences (2010).” The differences for clients completing treatment were at least one standard deviation higher on these measures. The full article can be accessed at:
Shedler J. The efficacy of psycho, dynamic psychotherapy. Am Psychol. 2010 Feb-Mar;65(2):98-109. doi: 10.1037/a0018378. PMID: 20141265. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20141265/
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Brings Lasting Benefits through Self-Knowledge
A subsequent article on the American Psychological Association website discussed Shedler’s overview, emphasizing the enduring impact of psychodynamic therapy. “The actual scientific evidence shows that psychodynamic therapy is highly effective. The benefits are at least as large as those of other psychotherapies, and they last,” Shedler stated. To read more, visit this link:
(https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/01/psychodynamic-therapy)
Further articles can be accessed in The Journal of Analytical Psychology: https://thejap.org/
References:
Jung, C. G. [1921] 1971. Psychological Types, Collected Works of C.G. Jung, vol. 6. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01813-8.