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What is psychodynamic practice?

The term “dynamic” (from the Greek word dynamis , meaning  “force” or “power”), was first used by Janet to imply that mental/psychological disturbances are the result of a weakening of the mind or psyche(“psychasthenie”).

It is however with the introduction of the notion that the mind has dynamic (as opposed to static) properties that the term “psychodynamic theory/practice” acquired its contemporary meaning. According to this view (introduced and further elaborated by S. Freud), the mind, in particular the Unconscious mind, exercises forces that push towards the emergence of unconscious contents in Consciousness. The conflicts arising from the opposite forces of the conscious/unconscious systems result in compromise formations that take the form of symptoms.

Since neither of the two systems is static (i.e. stable and unchangeable), nor are the symptoms. The latter are subject to a process of change and transformation as well as a certain degree of consistency and inertia. Symptoms bind together meanings and emotions that cannot find another expression because of mental conflict.  We can say that, in some respects, symptoms are partial answers to painful questions (albeit unconscious ones) that could not be answered in a better way at crucial junctures in a personal history. Symptoms therefore have a positive value for the people who suffer them, not just a negative one.

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