The psychodynamic approach can significantly reduce psychological distress and increase a sense of wellbeing. It helps you think about and understand yourself so you can make more conscious, healthy choices. It fosters an ability to face reality and accept yourself in all your complexity. It offers hope for change whilst acknowledging that change is hard because it involves loss and a move from what is familiar (even thought it might not be healthy) to what is new and unknown. A psychodynamic therapist will work with you to understand the barriers that get in the way of change. Sometimes, the therapy involves looking at past events and relationships going back to infancy and childhood as a way of understanding present difficulties. There may be loss and trauma which needs to be acknowledged and mourned.

Psychodynamic therapy is not a quick fix and people often stay in therapy for months and years deepening self-awareness and forming a sustaining relationship with their therapist. There is a growing body of evidence for the effectiveness of long-term (1-2 years) psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy) in treating people with depression, anxiety, trauma, PTSD and eating disorders. For more information look at the Tavistock Clinic study (2011) on treatment for depression in adults.