What is a relational psychodynamic psychotherapist and how do they work?

Psychotherapists have different ways of working, based on their training, their experience and their personality. There are many theoretical approaches on how to provide therapy.  Different approaches and therapists work better for different personality styles and different mental health difficulties. The most important aspect is choosing someone you trust and feel comfortable with. When I start a process I always suggest 4 or 5 initial sessions to properly understand why the client is coming to see me, and so that we can both assess whether my style of working is the one that suits them best. Below I explain what my main theoretical approach consists of by explaining each one of its terms.

 Psychotherapist

This is probably a term you are already familiar. A psychotherapist is a person who is trained to help others feel better through conversation and other tools. Psychotherapists have regular sessions with people who need support and establish a work plan with them so that they can understand what is happening to them and come up with alternatives that work for them.

 Psychodynamic

I believe in the core ideas of psychoanalysis. What should be considered a core idea is still controversial but I like the classification proposed by a psychoanalyst called Jonathan Shedler (whom you can read here). He thinks that every psychoanalytic school works under the following assumptions:

1) We all have an unconscious mental life that influences what we think and feel and also how we behave.

2) Contradictory feelings and ideas can coexist in our mind and generate conflict.

3) Our mind deploys mechanisms to defend itself against these contradictory elements. When these mechanisms become dysfunctional, we develop symptoms.

4) Past events influence how we perceive and understand the present.

5) Understanding how we relate to our therapist is central to treatment.

These guiding principles, which may even be present in other therapeutic schools, are contributions of psychoanalysis that I believe are still valid today.

But isn’t psychoanalysis outdated?

No. Like any theory, psychoanalysis has made mistakes and has been criticized. Throughout history, it has been misunderstood because it has often failed to clearly explain and promote its ideas. For example, people tend to believe that psychoanalysis consists only of Freud's ideas. But since Freud died in 1939, a great deal of psychoanalytic theory has been written and the way of understanding treatment has evolved as well. Contemporary psychoanalysis has many schools of thought and most of them are evidence-based. In fact, the Australian Psychological Society has recognised Psychodynamic Psychotherapy as an evidence-based treatment for Adjustment Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Depression, among others. If you are interested in scientific research you can review some articles here and here.

Relational

This means that I have been trained in a contemporary school of psychoanalysis that believes that the significant relationships we have, largely define who we are. It is in the context of significant relationships that we become unwell, and therefore, it is through significant relationships that we can get better. Relational psychoanalysis prioritizes the understanding of emotional bonds including the one that occurs during therapy. That understanding allows us to be more flexible than traditional psychoanalysts about topics such as neutrality