Psychodynamic Therapy as an Integration within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Overview
A form of depth-oriented talk therapy that works to bring unconscious mental processes into conscious awareness, on the premise that current emotional difficulties are shaped by unresolved internal conflicts, early relationships, and recurring patterns formed earlier in life. It is rooted in the psychoanalytic tradition but is typically briefer and less intensive than classical psychoanalysis, and it can be delivered in short-term or open-ended formats.
How it works
The therapist and client explore emotions, defences, recurring relational patterns, and the meaning behind symptoms, often examining how past experiences influence present behaviour. Distinctive features include a focus on affect and the expression of emotion, attention to avoidance and resistance, identification of recurring themes, and use of the therapeutic relationship itself (including transference) as a place where these patterns surface and can be understood and changed. The aim is lasting change in underlying functioning rather than only short-term symptom relief.
What it is used for
It is studied and applied across a range of presentations, including depression, anxiety disorders, panic, somatic and stress-related conditions, eating disorders, and personality disorders, and is also used for interpersonal and relational difficulties and complex or longstanding problems. Specialized adaptations exist, such as mentalization-based treatment and transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder.
Origins and evidence base
It descends from the psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was reshaped over the following decades by figures associated with ego psychology, object relations, and interpersonal schools; brief and time-limited variants were later formalized by clinicians such as David Malan, Habib Davanloo, and Peter Sifneos. The empirical base has grown through controlled trials and meta-analyses of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy, with Jonathan Shedler's 2010 review in American Psychologist among the works frequently cited in support of its efficacy, though the evidence is generally regarded as less extensive than that for cognitive behavioural therapy.
Within the ShiftGrit Core Method™
Some patterns make more sense once you trace them back to where they began. The whole ShiftGrit Core Method™ is the foundation a client's course of work is built on: Pattern Theory™ maps the limiting belief sitting underneath a pattern, and reconditioning is what actually changes it. Psychodynamic therapy is one of the lenses our clinicians may draw on alongside that work, used selectively to deepen how they understand the pattern rather than to stand in for the Method™. We may draw on it to trace where a belief was first learned, often in early relationships or experiences, and to recognise the habits a person built to protect themselves from it. We also watch for how those same habits surface in present-day relationships, which helps us see exactly which belief is being shielded. The clearer that picture, the more precisely the reconditioning step of the Core Method™ can do its work.
Illustrative example
A client might carry the limiting belief "I am abandoned," which can show up as strain in their relationships. Our clinicians may use a psychodynamic lens to notice how they keep others at a comfortable distance, perhaps with self-deprecating humour, and how that same habit appears even in the room with us. Seeing where the pattern repeats clarifies which belief is being protected, and the reconditioning work then targets that belief directly.
Based on: Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018378 [source]
Clinicians who integrate Psychodynamic Therapy
If Psychodynamic Therapy is specifically what you are looking for, tell us during matching and we will pair you with a clinician who carries that training. See how we integrate evidence-based modalities within the ShiftGrit Core Method™.
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Find Your PatternTrusted by Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations Across Canada
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Trusted By Alberta’s Leading Psychology & Mental Health Organizations
ShiftGrit Psychology & Counselling is professionally regulated, certified, and recognized by leading psychology and mental-health organizations across Alberta and Canada. These associations reflect our commitment to ethical practice, clinical standards, and evidence-informed therapy through Identity-Level Therapy and Reconditioning.
Regulated and affiliated across Alberta’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
Regulated and affiliated across Canada’s leading psychology, counselling, and mental-health organizations.
The descriptions and examples on this page are provided for general educational and illustrative purposes only. They explain how this approach may be integrated within the ShiftGrit Core Method™ and do not describe a specific client, represent a testimonial, or promise any particular result. Integrated modalities are offered at the discretion of individual clinicians, and whether any approach is appropriate for you is determined together with your clinician, within their professional judgement and scope of practice.
