The goal of psychotherapy is for you to feel less anxious and depressed, feel in touch with who you are and the actions you take, and feel free to choose to act or not to act.
These results arise from a combination of therapeutic tasks you take on with your therapist:
- Learning how to describe your emotions
- Understanding your avoidance
- Finding your patterns
- Getting to the developmental roots of those patterns
- Learning how your patterns unfold in relationships now
- Using your relationship with your therapist as a learning opportunity
- Exploring your fantasies and dreams
Listen to how Jonathan Shedler explains the seven principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy: