Psychodynamic therapy

Hi @Former-Member

I've never heard of that type of therapy but i would be really interested in know how it works. I might google it. Hopefully some other members will help you 🙂

Hi @Former-Member,

the question about is a certain type of therapy effective is a difficult one because for example: they could try and compare my therapy with your therapy because the style our therapists use both have the same name but because I have very different difficulties, a very different history and a very different relational style to you, Plus our therapists are different people with different histories, experiences and relational styes so the two therapies are incredibly hard to compare.... then there is the question of what does "effective" mean because what I want and what you want and what our therapists want can be different again.

having said that it seems that what the psych in hospital is saying is that they strongly think that you would benefit from a relational based therapy. The British Psychoanalytic (here) council describe psychodynamic therapy as: "psychodynamic psychotherapy aim to help people with serious psychological disorders to understand and change complex, deep-seated and often unconsciously based emotional and relationship problems thereby reducing symptoms and alleviating distress. It differs from most other therapies in aiming for deep seated change in personality and emotional development."

Like other styles of therapy psychodynamic has evidence to back its effectiveness and different styles are often sought out for different reasons, but I also want to add that the most effective therapeautic outcomes come from choosing a therapist with whom you feel heard, safe but challenged, and where you both agree on what you need to get out of therapy / what a sucessful outcome will look like

I hope this helps..

Thanks @Fancy_Pants,
reading that link it seemed to emphasise your point that getting along with the therapist is probably the most important piece of the puzzle - and being a person that finds it hard to trust, probably a very big piece indeed.
I guess I'm scared, and want to know beforehand if it's going to work or not.

'serious psychological disorders' also makes me feel like a bit of a failure/basket case.

Hello @Former-Member

First of all that is a very harsh judgement you have made of yourself.

'serious psychological disorders' also makes me feel like a bit of a failure/basket case."

This is a lived experience forum of a site for people affected by mental illness.

It is a safe haven for people to feel that they can open up and write about their deepest feelings without being judged.

I dont believe that any of us are failures! let alone basket cases!

No I am not going to take offence because i realise that is not what you intended.

you were putting yourself down.

However, i just thought that i would let you know that in doing that you left an opening for others to feel labelled.

Stigma has a huge impact on those of us with mental illness. also those who are diagnosed and too unwell to acknowledge anything is wrong.

There are also family members and friends of loved ones affected by mental illness on here.

You might want to speak with a moderator for them to assist you with this.

Psychodynamic therapy, psychoanalytical psychotherapy same just different decades.

I have had this therapy and for me although confronting and challenging it works.

you have to be prepared to feel all the range of emotions.

yes most importantly you need to have the right mix with your therapist.

i asked mine many questions before i commenced. it works.

hello @Former-Member

i am sensing that you are not coping too well and if you have just come out of hospital you need to be gentle with yourself.

When we are at our lowest we are the closest person to beat up and our self-esteem plummets.

if this is done repeatedly our overall opinion of ourself is extremely low.

it is good that you have come here to open up and discuss your feelings.

let your thoughts flow.

all of us just need to watch how we say things especially when we are feeling so stressed.

please keep writing.

look after yourself even though you have been discharged from hospital you still need to be gentle with yourself during a recovery period.

i hope that your doctor is able to refer you to a good specialist soon.

take care will probably meet you on here again.

Hey @Former-Member,

I think I will have to deal with intimacy issues when the time comes. As close as I am to my therapist there is still a whole heap she doesn't know. Today I let the cat out of the bag for something (not intimacy related) and that was hard enough.

My gut reaction is to say just write it all down somewhere. All your thoughts and fears. I would then set this up as something that is very sensitive and important to you so that she knows the importance when you raise it. You could either then drip feed some of it to her and take it slowly or when you are feeling ok and strong enough to deal with it tell her or write to her about it.

Just lately I had an issue with mine that I was very ashamed of and was so scared it would be minimised or not taken with the importance it carried for me. I just told her that I really needed her to work through it with me in a really caring way as I was feeling very insecure and she did and it lost much of the weight it had been carrying before. I know yours will take a bit of work from what you've said in the past but I really think it's well work setting it up right to start and let her know how important it is to you.

take care and best wishes with this. 💜🤗