Michael Burton and Lawrence Suss

Pschodynamic counselling is concerned with how we deceive ourselves as to our intentions, desires and beliefs and how these deceptions create conflicts between our expressed goals and our actions.  The term psychodynamic means 'of/or pertaining to the laws of mental action', and its use presupposes that there are some principles that determine the relationship between mind and action and that these can be formulated as a basis for therapeutic intervention.  Traditionally, the principles underlying psychodynamic counselling are presented as derivations of the ideas of the psychoanalytic school founded by Sigmund Freud, a doctor, neurologist and psychoanalyst. Current psychodynamic counsellling draws from a much wider range of theoretical influences.  One of the most fundamental tenets is that we are unaware of many of our motives and that if these are known to us we are able to make better, less conflicted choices.  However we are often resistant to or defended against recognizing these hidden  motives, termed unconscious by most psychodynamic theorists, and hence are unable to change - indeed we seem to have a compulsion to repeat past behaviour.  These repetitions are thought to arise because of earlier experience where our behaviour successfully enabled us to cope by ignoring or repressing difficult feelings.  Pschodynamic counselling thus has theory of why we are unable to change, how this inability arises, and how it affects our lives.

Further information about this therapeutic approach written by the authors, can be found in "Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Essential Guide", edited by Professor Stephen Palmer and published by Sage, London.  Price £18.99.

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