Psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective
for a wide range of mental health symptoms, including depression, anxiety,
panic and stress-related physical ailments, and the benefits of the therapy
grow after treatment has ended, according to new research published by the
American Psychological Association.
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the psychological roots of
emotional suffering. Its hallmarks are self-reflection and self-examination,
and the use of the relationship between therapist and patient as a window into
problematic relationship patterns in the patient’s life. Its goal is not only
to alleviate the most obvious symptoms but to help people lead healthier lives.
“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.”
To reach these conclusions, eight meta-analyses comprising 160
studies of psychodynamic therapy, plus nine meta-analyses of other
psychological treatments and antidepressant medications have been reviewed. Study
focused on effect size, which measures the amount of change produced by each
treatment. An effect size of 0.80 is considered a large effect in psychological
and medical research.
One major meta-analysis of psychodynamic therapy included 1,431
patients with a range of mental health problems and found an effect size of
0.97 for overall symptom improvement (the therapy was typically once per week
and lasted less than a year). The effect size increased by 50 percent, to 1.51,
when patients were re-evaluated nine or more months after therapy ended.
The effect size for the most widely used antidepressant medications
is a more modest 0.31. The findings are published in the February issue of
American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological
Association.
The eight meta-analyses, representing the best available scientific
evidence on psychodynamic therapy, all showed substantial treatment benefits.
Effect sizes were impressive even for personality disorders—deeply
ingrained maladaptive traits that are notoriously difficult to treat, he said.
“The consistent trend toward larger effect sizes at follow-up suggests that
psychodynamic psychotherapy sets in motion psychological processes that lead to
ongoing change, even after therapy has ended,”
Four studies of therapy for depression used actual recordings of
therapy sessions to study what therapists said and did that was effective or
ineffective. The more the therapists acted like psychodynamic therapists, the better
the outcome.