Posted by fallsfall on November 10, 2003, at 8:17:56
In reply to Re: feeling like therapy is a viscious circle » fallsfall, posted by platinumbride on November 9, 2003, at 22:51:18
This link has a reasonably detailed description of the two therapies. But it doesn't really explain how they are done and how they "feel" different. http://www.grohol.com/therapy.htm
Also: http://www.aabt.org/091101%20Folder/091101/public/what_to_expect.html
In general, I have found (and this is just my experience) that CBT focuses more on what is happening today and how you can solve problems and look at situations differently, while Psychodynamic is more concerned with understanding what is the basis of your personality, and learning new ways to look at how people can interact. CBT is more top-down - how can we fix this particular problem, and then that knowledge can be generalized for other problems. Psychodynamic therapy is more bottom-up - who are you and why, and why the general world might not be like the world you grew up in so if you can change how you see the world then the problems go away.
I gained a lot of skills and understanding in CBT that will be very valuable. I'm not as clear on the Psychodynamic (I've been doing it for 4 months), but at some point I felt like CBT was just touching the surface and that my problems lay deeper. Psychodynamic seems to be getting more to the deeper level.
You might find out what your therapist's orientation is. Ask her about your particular problems and how other orientations might handle them differently - but remember that most therapists have chosen their orientations because they believe that they are more effective than the competition's.
If there is a university library nearby you might want to glance through some books that have Case Studies (transcripts or descriptions of therapy sessions) for the different orientations - that gives you a better feel for how they are different.
I am very different than you in therapy. I am overly compliant, but very frustrated if I don't know what to do.
How long have you been in therapy? What kinds of issues do you have?
poster:fallsfall
thread:277107
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20031031/msgs/278162.html