Sections
Techniques of Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Introduction | Features Common to All Brief Psychodynamic Therapies | Specific Approaches to Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy | Application of Approaches to a Specific Case | Conclusion | Key Points | References | Suggested Readings
Excerpt
All brief therapies, not just brief psychodynamic
psychotherapy (BPP), evolved from psychoanalytic roots. Freud reported
on psychoanalytic therapies that lasted 1 week (Katherine), 7 weeks
(Emmy von N), and 9 weeks (Lucie R) and the cure of Gustav Mahler's
impotence in a single, 4-hour session (Breuer and Freud 1893–1895; Jones 1957). Freud's followers defined and formally introduced
the key ingredients of brief therapy: increased therapist activity,
a limit on the length of treatment and/or number of sessions,
narrowed treatment focus, and restricted patient selection criteria
(Table 3–1). Today, research validates the efficacy of
BPP, and practitioners are extending the reach of this approach
by introducing innovative techniques such as block therapy (Davanloo 2004)
and by treating new populations. For instance, Milrod et al. (2007) conducted the first randomized controlled trial of panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy
in patients with panic disorder and found it to be effective.