Psychodynamic psychotherapy is one of the oldest and most clinically developed forms of psychological treatment, rooted in the tradition of psychoanalysis but adapted for modern clinical practice. It works with unconscious processes, internal conflicts, early relational experiences, and the ways in which the past continues to shape present functioning — often without the person's awareness.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is not simply a method of gaining insight. It is a sustained therapeutic process in which understanding and emotional experience work together to produce lasting change in the patient's inner world, relational life, and psychological functioning.
The unconscious plays a central role in determining thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Much of what drives a person's experience is not available to conscious awareness — and bringing these processes into awareness is a central therapeutic goal.
Early relational experiences — particularly with primary caregivers — shape internal representations of self and others, patterns of attachment, and ways of regulating emotion. These internal working models continue to influence how a person relates and responds in adult life.
Current difficulties often have meaningful connections to earlier experiences. Symptoms, relational patterns, and characteristic responses are not random — they carry meaning that can be understood and, once understood, transformed.
The therapeutic relationship is itself a vehicle for change. Patterns that originated in early relationships tend to re-emerge in the relationship with the therapist — a process known as transference. Working with transference directly is one of the most powerful instruments of change in psychodynamic therapy.
Defence mechanisms — unconscious strategies for managing anxiety and internal conflict — are explored rather than confronted. Understanding why a patient uses particular defences, and what they protect against, deepens the therapeutic work.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective for depression — including recurrent and chronic presentations where the emotional and relational roots are central; anxiety disorders where underlying dynamics have deeper origins than the presenting symptoms suggest; personality disorders — as a complement to or following on from schema therapy or DBT; trauma — particularly complex trauma from early adverse experiences; relationship difficulties and chronic patterns of unsatisfying connection; grief and loss where mourning is blocked or complicated; and identity difficulties and questions about meaning, purpose, and authenticity.
Sessions are less structured than CBT or skills-based approaches. The patient is encouraged to speak freely — about what is on their mind, what they are feeling, what comes up in dreams or associations. The therapist listens with particular attention to patterns, themes, repetitions, and what the patient may be communicating without awareness.
Key therapeutic techniques include exploration of the patient's inner world — thoughts, feelings, fantasies, dreams, and memories; attention to what is not said as well as what is; examination of patterns across different relationships and life contexts; working with the therapeutic relationship as a live example of the patient's relational world; and interpretation — making explicit connections between present experience, the therapeutic relationship, and past history.
Psychodynamic therapy is typically longer-term than CBT. Brief psychodynamic therapy — conducted over 16 to 30 sessions — is available for more circumscribed presentations. Open-ended therapy is appropriate for deeper characterological work or complex presentations.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy at IsraClinic is conducted directly in English, Russian and Hebrew — without an interpreter. The intimacy and depth of psychodynamic work — including exploration of unconscious processes, early memories, and the therapeutic relationship — requires direct communication in the patient's own language.
Where pharmacotherapy is also involved, the psychodynamic therapist and treating psychiatrist work in close coordination, ensuring the psychotherapeutic and pharmacological components are aligned.
Psychodynamic therapy may be combined with other modalities where clinically indicated — frequently offered in sequence with schema therapy or as a deepening complement to approaches that have provided initial stabilisation.
All psychodynamic psychotherapy at IsraClinic is delivered within the framework of the Psychoergonomic Method — ensuring the approach is built around this specific patient's history, inner structure, and clinical needs.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is particularly indicated when presenting difficulties are longstanding and characterologically rooted; when previous shorter-term approaches have not produced lasting change; when the patient has sufficient capacity for self-reflection and motivation for deeper exploratory work; and when understanding the origins and meaning of one's difficulties — not only managing symptoms — is a therapeutic goal.
It is also indicated in combination with other approaches at different stages of treatment — for example, following stabilisation with DBT in personality disorder presentations, or as a deepening modality after initial work with CBT.
IsraClinic accepts patients for in-person consultation in Tel Aviv and online, in English, Russian and Hebrew. No referral is required.
Clinical Programme Curator: Valery Kravitz | IsraClinic | Last reviewed: 2026
Some difficulties require more than symptom management — they require understanding. If you would like to discuss whether psychodynamic therapy is right for you, our team is available in English, Russian and Hebrew.