A Clinical Guide to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

A Clinical Guide to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy serves as an accessible and applied introduction to psychodynamic psychotherapy.

The book is a resource for psychodynamic psychotherapy that gives helpful and practical guidelines around a range of patient presentations and clinical dilemmas. It focuses on contemporary issues facing psychodynamic psychotherapy practice, including issues around research, neuroscience, mentalising, working with diversity and difference, brief psychotherapy adaptations and the use of social media and technology. The book is underpinned by the psychodynamic competence framework that is implicit in best psychodynamic practice. The book includes a foreword by Prof. Peter Fonagy that outlines the unique features of psychodynamic psychotherapy that make it still so relevant to clinical practice today.

The book will be beneficial for students, trainees and qualified clinicians in psychotherapy, psychology, counselling, psychiatry and other allied professions.

1: Introduction; PART 1: THEORY AND RESEARCH; 2: An overview of psychoanalytic theory; 3: Efficacy and outcome research; PART 2: COMPETENCES; 4: The setting and analytic frame; 5: Assessment and formulation; 6: Anxiety and defences; 7: Mentalising; 8: Unconscious communications; 9: Transference and countertransference; 10: Endings; PART 3: ADAPTATIONS AND PRACTICALITIES; 11: Brief application of psychodynamic work; 12: Challenging situations and clinical dilemmas; 13: Working with difference; 14: Technology and social media

Deborah Abrahams is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and chartered clinical psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience, including 15 years in the NHS. She is a dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) practitioner, supervisor and trainer as well as Programme Director of DIT at the Anna Freud Centre. Deborah is a senior member of the British Psychotherapy Foundation and has a private psychotherapy practice in North West London offering supervision, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Poul Rohleder is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and chartered clinical psychologist, as well as a dynamic interpersonal therapy practitioner. He has over 15 years’ experience of working in public mental health care systems and in private practice. He is a trustee of the British Psychoanalytic Council and sits on several other professional committees and is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK.