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Chapter 9 - Psychological Assessment and Formulation in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

from Part 2: - The Model of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy into Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2023

Adam Polnay ,
Rhiannon Pugh ,
Victoria Barker ,
David Bell ,
Allan Beveridge ,
Adam Burley ,
Allyson Lumsden ,
C. Susan Mizen  and
Lauren Wilson
Foreword by
Nancy McWilliams
Adam Polnay
Affiliation:
The State Hospital, Carstairs and Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
Victoria Barker
Affiliation:
East London NHS Foundation Trust, London
David Bell
Affiliation:
British Psychoanalytic Society
Allan Beveridge
Affiliation:
Royal College of Psychiatrists, London
Adam Burley
Affiliation:
Rivers Centre, Edinburgh
Allyson Lumsden
Affiliation:
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
C. Susan Mizen
Affiliation:
Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, Exeter
Lauren Wilson
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
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Summary

The consultation is likely to be the first experience the patient has of a psychodynamic way of thinking and it has the potential to be an experience of being deeply heard and understood. In the consultation period the aim is for the therapist to have an experience of the internal world of the patient and the patient an experience of what the therapy will be like. A consultation over a series of meetings may even give the opportunity of developing a patient’s capacity to undertake therapeutic work. It is a complex process that often starts before the patient even enters the room. There are different approaches to the consultation process and some of these are discussed. Given that the psychodynamic consultation is an encounter which will, in all likelihood, create anxiety and a sense of vulnerability in the patient, we can expect to see defences emerging in the moment-by-moment interaction and these are considered. A tripartite structure of psychodynamic formulation is outlined as a helpful framework for picking out the relational dynamic

Keywords

AssessmentConsultationFormulationTransferenceCountertransferenceDefencesObject-RelationsPsychodynamic
Type
Chapter
Information
Cambridge Guide to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy , pp. 151 - 161
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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