Psychodynamic

Adolescence is a vulnerable period for mental health. It is not easy to make a precise diagnosis during this period, as young people may present attenuated forms of psychiatric pathology, or on the contrary, a combination of several types of difficulties. Adopting a transdiagnostic and dimensional approach, based on clinical stages, and thus proposing interventions adapted to the severity of symptoms, is pertinent. As emotional dysregulation lies at the heart of many pathologies, it is a prime target for early intervention...

BACKGROUND: About one third of patients with depression are in a condition that can be termed as "difficult-to-treat". Some evidence suggests that difficult-to-treat depression is associated with a higher frequency of childhood trauma and comorbid personality disorders or accentuated features. However, the condition is understudied, and the effects of psychotherapy for difficult-to-treat depression are currently uncertain. The aim of this trial is to investigate the beneficial and harmful effects of 30 sessions of individual schema therapy versus treatment as usual for difficult-to-treat depression in the Danish secondary, public mental health sector...

Studies have provided evidence for the effectiveness of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) in treating medically unexplained symptoms (MUS). This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of ISTDP on individuals living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in terms of, emotion regulation (ER) abilities, defense mechanisms, quality of life (QOL), and IBS symptoms. A total of 30 patients diagnosed with IBS were recruited and randomly assigned to either the intervention ( n  = 15) or control ( n  = 15) group...

Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders (AD), yet a vast majority of patients do not respond to therapy, necessitating the identification of predictors to enhance outcomes. Several studies have explored the relationship between stress response and treatment outcome, as a potential treatment mechanism. However, the latter remains under-researched in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). We studied N = 29 patients undergoing psychodynamic psychotherapy (PDT) within the SOPHONET-Study...

BACKGROUND: Higher intensity of psychotherapy might improve treatment outcome in depression, especially in those with comorbid personality disorder. AIMS: To compare the effects of 25 individual sessions (weekly) of two forms of psychotherapy - short-term psychoanalytic supportive psychotherapy (SPSP) and schema therapy - with the same treatments given for 50 sessions (twice weekly) in people with depression and personality disorder. Trial registration: NTR5941...

UNLABELLED: The Relation between the OPD-2 Axis Structure and the Static/Dynamic Risk for Committing Child Sexual Abuse in a Sample of 30 Men with Sexual Interest in Minors from the Dark Field - A Pilot Study Objectives: The present pilot study examined the relation between the OPD-2 axis structure of 30 men with a sexual interest in minors from the dark field and their static and dynamic risk factors for committing child sexual abuse. METHODS: Two independent raters estimated the structural dimensions based on notes from outpatient psychotherapy sessions using the OPD-2 structure checklist...

AIM: To understand the psychodynamics of tobacco use among 11- to 14-year-olds in Ahmedabad, India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information on tobacco use from 5,266 students, aged 11 to 14, enrolled in government-aided English medium schools in Ahmedabad. IBM® SPSS® 26.0 software along with Chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 7.2% (376) had ever used tobacco...

OBJECTIVES: An exploration of the interrelationships between central psychodynamic constructs in adolescents with mental health problems was conducted. METHODS: 230 adolescents (Mage=18.0±1.9) were assessed using the Structure and the Conflict Questionnaire of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis System in Childhood and Adolescence and the Defense Style Questionnaire for Adolescents. RESULTS: Controlling for the influence of gender, age, and socioeconomic status, low to moderate associations were revealed between increased psychodynamic conflict levels and immature defense styles (r=0...

Background: Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) describes chronic disturbances in self-organization (i.e. affect dysregulation; negative self-concept; severe difficulties in relationships) which are frequently observed in survivors of prolonged, repeated or multiple traumatic stressors. So far, evidence of psychodynamic treatment approaches for CPTSD is scarce. Methods: In this single-centre observational pilot study, symptom change during a 6-week psychodynamic inpatient treatment in a multimodal psychosomatic rehabilitation centre was evaluated using repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs)...

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a term representing the psychopathological implications of exposure to chronic, inter-personal trauma. These include the main symptoms of PTSD, as well as changes in identity, emotion regulation, and inter-personal relationships. Self-harm and dissociation (i.e., disintegration of mental processes) are also quite common in CPTSD. Considering this complex and often severe clinical picture, mental health professionals often find it difficult to effectively treat CPTSD...

UNLABELLED: Mentalization, that is the capacity to understand our and others' behaviors in terms of intentional mental states, represents one of the core features of personality disorders (PDs) and can be related to therapists' countertransference (CT) and interventions. AIMS: The aim of the present work was to study the relationship between therapists' technique, therapists' CT, and patients' mentalization, in a sample of patients with PDs undergoing a 40-session program of sequential brief-adlerian psychodynamic psychotherapy, a psychodynamic therapeutic model specifically developed for the treatment of PDs in public mental health services...

The Elderly Psychiatry Family Guidance Centre, set up in 2009 in the French Rhône department, is a hospital-based team working at the request of professionals in the network. It is aimed at families in which a member over the age of 65 is experiencing a loss of autonomy that is beyond the family's resources. Combining psychodynamic and systemic tools, this group treatment focuses on psychological aspects and elements of everyday reality. It encourages family communication in order to restore balance. It activates specific levers: intervention during the crisis, modularity of the framework, work on the environment and the network...

Both the new ICD-11 and the latest Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders focus on self and interpersonal functioning as the central feature of personality pathology, also acknowledging that personality disorders are organized along a dimensional continuum of severity. This revised understanding is in line with long-standing psychodynamic conceptualisations of personality pathology, in particular Kernberg's object relations model of personality organization. Despite existing evidence for the clinical utility of the derived Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO-R), empirical support for the identification of clear cut-points between the different levels of personality functioning is missing...

INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of qualitative research that retrospectively explores how patients with major depressive disorder view their improvement in psychotherapy. METHODS: Fifteen patients who received short-term cognitive behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy were individually interviewed approximately three years after completing therapy. RESULTS: Some patients had altered their views on therapy, especially those who initially were uncertain of how helpful therapy had been...

In recent years the historical subject base in psychobiography has expanded from a traditional focus on White (Caucasian) subjects to a broader more culturally inclusive population of significant personalities throughout history. A critical component of strong multicultural psychobiography is the inclusion of anchoring theories of psychology that are rooted in socio-cultural-political context. To psychologically profile culturally diverse individuals with only traditional Western theories of psychology and psychiatry (e...

Depressive disorders in adolescence pose unique challenges for assessment and treatment, particularly due to their high comorbidity with various personality disorders. Moreover, young depressed patients may elicit very intense and difficult-to-manage emotional responses in therapists (in this context, countertransference). This study aimed at empirically identifying specific personality disorders (or subtypes) among adolescents with depressive pathology and exploring distinct countertransference patterns emerging in their psychotherapy: 100 adolescents (58 with depressive disorders; 42 with other clinical conditions) were assessed by their respective clinicians (n=100) using the psychodiagnostic chart-adolescent of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM) - second edition, and the therapist response questionnaire for adolescents...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between common factors (alliance, insight, problem solving) and therapists' techniques. We expected a positive association between (1) supportive techniques and the alliance, (2) interpretative techniques and insight, and (3) a stronger association between interpretative techniques and insight for patients with more severe baseline symptoms. Other associations were analyzed in an exploratory way. METHOD: Sixty sessions from 15 adult female patients diagnosed with personality disorder were analyzed using the Psychodynamic Interventions List (verbal techniques, observer-rated transcripts), and the Session Questionnaire for General and Differential Individual Psychotherapy (common factors, patient-rated after each session)...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and impact on executive function of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in adolescents. METHODS: A total of 129 adolescents diagnosed with MDD were enrolled in the study. Out of these, 28 adolescents were assigned to the SFBT group, while 25 were part of the Active Control group (AC group), receiving psychodynamic psychotherapy. Executive function, depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed at baseline, at the time of the third intervention, the sixth intervention, and the 10th intervention...

INTRODUCTION: Functional movement disorders (FMD) can overlap with Parkinson's disease (PD), and distinguishing between the two clinical conditions can be complex. Framing social cognition (theory of mind) (TOM) disorder, attention deficit, and psychodynamic features of FMD and PD may improve diagnosis. METHODS: Subjects with FMD and PD and healthy controls (HC) were administered tasks assessing TOM abilities and attention. The psychodynamic hypothesis of conversion disorder was explored by a questionnaire assessing dissociative symptoms...

Moral injury is a relatively new concept with varying definitions that attempts to define a profound and lasting insult to one's conscience caused by perpetration of or directly witnessing harm to another person in a high-pressure situation. This entity is separate from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but it can coexist with PTSD. This article provides psychotherapeutic examples of the diagnosis of moral injury from a psychodynamic perspective, focusing on morally challenging situations related to warfare and the healthcare system...