On the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy

It had been talked about for years, but without being able to prove it and it eventually happened. I am referring to the effectiveness of dynamic psychotherapy (the umbrella under which we find most of the therapeutic interventions of analytical psychotherapy).

As many as two studies were published in 2023 that analysed this issue using meta-analysis, a comparison of all the studies that investigated the subject by selecting only those that met reliability criteria.

In the first study, a synthesis of the most recent evidence for psychodynamic therapy (PDT) in depressive, anxiety, personality and somatic symptom disorders was reviewed, showing that PDT represents evidence‐based psychotherapy for depressive, anxiety, personality and somatic symptom disorders.

The second study compared the results obtained from dynamic psychotherapy treatments with those obtained from cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in depressed patients.

In both cases, the results appeared superimposable, demonstrating that dynamic psychotherapy, when implemented by certified therapists, is highly effective and even equivalent (in terms of results) to cognitive-behavioural therapy, which has always been considered the golden standard of psychotherapies.

Beyond the wars, there remains the result that definitively re-evaluates what, in my opinion, is the most appropriate approach not only for the psychotherapeutic treatment of the most common psychiatric pathologies but also for increasing self-knowledge. Such an addendum is a supplement that should always be considered when starting psychotherapy.