Telling Stories : Narratives in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

The psychotherapist’s office is a place, at its best, where people tell their most private stories to have their stories reflected back accurately with new and useful insight.

Psychotherapists watch for 1) any communication that gives them a new or deeper appreciation for the patient’s unique world and for 2) ways that each person unconsciously communicates through symbolic language (stories, memories, actions, gestures, etc.) the emotional and influential features of their inner world. The therapist must communicate his or her understanding with empathy and clarity at a useful moment. The therapeutic attention to unconscious symbolic communication is what identifies psychoanalytic psychotherapy of various persuasions as psychodynamic.