With students being inundated with only short-term outcomes, protocols, and manualized treatments, many undergraduate and graudate programs students are taught therapy as if it began with cognitive-behavioral worksheets and deep breathing.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is not just another approach, it is the theory from which nearly every modern therapy emerged. From the early work of Sigmund Freud, psychotherapy began as an attempt to understand the unconscious motivations of human behavior. Concepts such as defense mechanisms, transference, resistance, and internal conflict did more than shape psychoanalysis; they fundamentally changed how clinicians think about the mind. Later theorists expanded this foundation; Melanie Klein deepened the understanding of early relational life, while Donald Winnicott reframed development through ideas like the “holding environment” and the “true and false self.”
These developments shifted psychotherapy from instinct theory to relational and developmental models of the mind. The result? A conceptual framework that quietly shaped nearly every contemporary therapy.
Consider this: cognitive therapy relies on insight into automatic thoughts; attachment-based therapies rely on early relational templates; trauma therapies emphasize implicit memory and affect regulation. None of these ideas emerged in a vacuum! They evolved from psychodynamic theory and treatment. Yet undergraduate curricula often treat psychodynamic psychotherapy as a historical artifact rather than a living discipline. That approach risks producing clinicians who can apply techniques but lack a theory of mind.
Research over the past two decades has also challenged the misconception that psychodynamic therapy lacks empirical support (see my earlier posts). Contemporary studies show that psychodynamic treatments produce enduring change, often with benefits that continue to increase after therapy ends.
If undergraduate psychology education is meant to teach students how to think clinically and not just follow treatment manuals, then psychodynamic psychotherapy is not optional and essential to the entire field of psychology.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Alex Rowell 