CORE PROCESSES IN BRIEF PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

All psychotherapy educators aspire to teach evidence-based psychotherapy. They
encounter problems, not the least of which is reaching agreement about the
meaning of the phrase “evidence based” (Slade & Priebe, 2001). Other problems
result from the fact that to advocate one particular evidenced-based treatment
over others is to ignore the reality that treatments need to be tailored to the
population one is treating. The university where I teach is located in a socially
and economically deprived outer metropolitan area. Our clinic patients are mainly
from lower socioeconomic circumstances, often from chaotic, disorganized
families and with histories of abuse and deprivation. Our clinical trainees rarely
get the option of working on prescribed homogeneous disorders or with
circumscribed problem behaviors.
This patient group is similar to the