Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Review of the evidence backs psychodynamic psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy (PP) has lost out to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and medication over the last few years but a review of the research by Jonathan Shedler of the University of Colorado suggests that it may be just as effective and have long-lasting benefits. PP focuses on the psychological causes of people's problems and uses self-reflection and self-examination. The relationship between the client and the therapist is seen as very important as this is thought to mirror problems the client might have in their other relationships. Shedler reviewed eight meta-analyses covering a total of 160 studies and found that PP had a significant effect that was longer lasting than that of CBT or medication. PP was found to be effective for a wide variety of conditions including depression, anxiety and personality disorders.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125094501.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

1 comment:

Penny Rimer said...

In the Eating Disorders service we are finding that we are getting good results with personalitly disordered patients using CAT.