Our Theoretical Orientation
Our training is in psychodynamic psychotherapy within the relational and interpersonal schools of thought. This means we believe people have an inherent need to interact with others, and that the individual's sense of self, and identity is formed by all of the intimate relations developed over the course of a person's lifetime.
Therapy often needs to go deep in order to truly be a healing and transformative process. An exploration of the deeply held beliefs, feelings, and behaviors that have fueled self-destructive defenses helps the patient discover, understand, and process these underlying burdens so that they can truly heal and move on.
"Enlightenment consists not merely in the seeing of luminous shapes and visions, but in making the darkness visible. The latter procedure is more difficult and therefore, unpopular." Carl Jung
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Features of the Psychodynamic Technique
Focus on affect and expression of emotion: Intellectual insight vs. Emotional insight.
Exploration of defenses: How a person avoids change and distressing feelings.
Identification of recurring themes: In thoughts, feelings, relationships, and life experiences.
Discussion of past experience: Particularly the ways in which the past tends to "live on" in the present.
Focus on interpersonal relationships: How they fulfill a person's emotional needs.
Focus on the therapy relationship: How it might repeat patterns of problematic relations.
Exploration of fantasy life: A person's dreams, daydreams, fantasies, etc. provide a rich source of information about how he or she makes sense of the world..
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