In terms of approach, this form of therapy also tends to be more eclectic than others, taking and blending techniques from a variety of sources, rather than relying on a single system of intervention.

The principles of psychodynamics were first introduced in the 1874 publication Lectures on Physiology by German scientist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke. Brücke, modeling it after thermodynamics, suggested all living organisms are energy systems, governed by the principle of energy conservation. During that same year, Brücke supervised a first-year medical student Sigmund Freud at the University of Vienna. Freud later adopted Brücke's construct of dynamic physiology to create his own conceptualization of the human psyche. Later, both the concept and application of psychodynamics was further developed by Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Otto Rank, and Melanie Klein.

Most psychodynamic approaches center around the concept that the the human psyche contains unconscious maladaptions, presumed to have developed early in life which eventually causes dissonance in day to day life. The psychodynamic therapist first intervenes to treat symptoms and discomfort, then helps the client acknowledge the existence of the maladaption, while working with the client to develop strategies for change.

Although psychodynamic psychotherapy can take many forms, commonalities include:

• An emphasis on intrapsychic and unconscious conflicts, and their relation to development
• Seeing defenses as developing in internal psychic structures in order to avoid unpleasant consequences of conflict
• A belief that psychopathology develops primarily from early childhood experiences
• A view that internal representations of experiences are organized around interpersonal relations (object relations)
• An understanding that life issues and dynamics will re-emerge in the context of the client-therapist relationship as transference and counter-transference
• Use of free association as a therapeutic method for exploration of internal conflicts and problems
• Focusing and working through interpretations of transference, defense mechanisms, and current symptoms
• A therapeutic relationship based on trust in insight

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a therapeutic approach preferred by followers of the Freudian school of thought (circa 1900’s) that sees clients as psychologically ill through unconscious conflict within the mind. Freud based his approach on individual clinical case studies, which fail to be empirically tested due to the impossibility of replication. This means that the treatment of clients is an act of faith based on experience of individual therapists own experience.

The conflict that Freud wrote of was the mind’s ability to protect itself from harm by creating strategies that Freud named defence mechanisms. These mechanisms prevent conscious awareness of traumatic experience from the past in childhood that could cause distress to the client. These defence mechanisms often displayed themselves as maladaptive behaviour and presented themselves in therapy as symptomlogy of biological defects, such as twitching, nervousness and at its worst hysteria (panic attacks).

Freud believed that through the technique of free-association a patient could reinact mentally the past traumas and so through insight could come to terms with the past event. This meant that the client would be free of the syptomolgy and change their behaviour to more suitable strategies for coping with stress.

References
(To view, roll mouse over the "References" heading; to hide, click on the heading)