Psychodynamic therapy: a well-defined concept with increasing evidence

The efficacy of psychodynamic therapy (PDT) is well established1 2 and has been acknowledged by independent review committees.3 4 Stefan Hofmann, however, again questioned the empirical status of PDT.4 When confronted with evidence refuting his claims,4 Hofmann ignored the data and repeated his critique in this journal.5 We again address Hofmann’s claims. Definition of PDT Hofmann criticised PDT as a ‘poorly defined concept’, claiming that all therapies including cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) would meet its definition.5 However, there is evidence that PDT and CBT can be significantly differentiated by blind raters (eg, references # 26, 27, 40, 42, 46, 64, 67, 70, 81 in Leichsenring et al1)—also showing adequate treatment integrity in contrast to Hofmann's claims.5 Thus, PDT is defined well enough to reliably discriminate PDT from CBT.

Source: Evidence-Based Mental Health - April 20, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Gottdiener, W., Hilsenroth, M., Keefe, J. R., Luyten, P., Rabung, S., Steinert, C. Tags: Letter Source Type: research