In short, psychodynamic refers to conflicts in the mind that influence people’s lives, particularly relationships, outside of their awareness; the goal is to make people aware of how they mentally defend against their own thoughts, and become more flexible and effective in their lives.

Much like the difficult-to-see ailments the doctors above had to identify, psychodynamic therapy has had the enormous challenge of turning unseen mental forces into concepts science can  see and test. Although this has been difficult, psychodynamic theory is the elegant and deepest approach to broad character change.

Whether it is delivered in a brief, intensive and time-limited form, or in long term psychoanalysis,  psychodynamic theory has changed lives of people for the better for over a century.