When you start searching for a therapist, you might come across words such as cognitive therapy and psychodynamic therapy. So, what are these kinds of therapies, and how do you know the best option for you?
Psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are common treatments in the therapy sector. Both therapies are talk-based therapies that are highly efficient for several issues as well as concerns. Which principle underlies cognitive therapy and psychodynamic therapy, which is right for you relies on several factors. But before that let’s know in brief about both kinds of therapies.
Psychodynamic therapy
Psychodynamic therapy is a kind of therapy that looks into your past to understand your present. It is insight-oriented and focuses mainly on assisting you in gaining insights into how your early life experiences have affected your present. This also includes looking at your relationships with your parents, your early attachment style, and your interactions with siblings while growing up.
This therapy dives deep into different aspects of your, like your ongoing relationships, several interpersonal struggles, varied aspects of your personality, and also different stages of emotional development. The primary goal of psychodynamic therapy is enhancing self-awareness and self-empowerment. You will work to develop a good understanding of yourself, both in the present and also in the past. The ultimate goal is harnessing new internal insights into
- Reshaping your acceptance of yourself
- Healing emotional thoughts
- Shifting unnecessary relationship behaviors and patterns
Psychodynamic therapy is long-lasting starting from a few months to a few years. This therapy is mainly used for treating mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, relationship issues, anxiety disorders, and other adjustment disorders. You should keep in mind that you do not require a specific mental illness to benefit from psychodynamic therapy. But this approach is a common choice for those individuals who feel they might benefit from gaining some insights into themselves as well as their pasts, but are not focusing on any pressing issues or conditions.
Cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT
CBT mainly focuses on getting practical, skill-based solutions to day-to-day issues. It concentrates on identifying negative thoughts and changing behaviors through acquiring coping skills. It assists in looking for practical solutions to day-to-day challenges rather than finding the main cause of the issues. It often involves some homework assignments also known as action plans for you to execute other than sessions.
The type of homework assignments includes
- Journaling mainly about negative thoughts that come all through the day so that you can start looking at those thoughts and challenge them.
- Writing of self-statements for counteracting negative thoughts that you have all through the day.
- Adapting positive reinforcement when you identify and bring changes in a specific thought can reward you.
- Meditation helps in calming down and centering yourself
- Visualization methods help in changing the negative script in yours to a positive script
- Breathing exercises help in dealing with anxiety and calming your mind.
CBT is a short-term treatment that lasts for 2-3 months. The situations with which CBT helps are anxiety disorders, eating disorders, insomnia, depression, etc.
Cognitive therapy vs Psychodynamic therapy
- A primary difference between these two therapies is that psychodynamic therapy is insight-based and CBT is skill-based and focuses on behavioral changes. These therapies do investigation on what happens in the here and now. Psychodynamic therapy goes deep into the emotions of the client helping clients in accessing their capacity for a good life.
- Psychodynamic therapy is open-minded and long-term therapy while CBT is constricted and short-term.
- While Psychodynamic therapies focus more on past problems to solve the present issues, CBT focuses more on present issues and their solutions.
- According to psychodynamics, our past events define the present issues and CBT states that existing thoughts have an impact on interpersonal behavior and create different mental health issues.
- Psychodynamic therapy is mainly client-based and CBT is therapy based for which it is more focused. In addition, psychodynamic therapy is session-based as everything takes place at the time of therapy. But CBT, even if it takes place in sessions, assigns its patients to work on various skills post-session.
- With psychodynamic therapy, the focus is more on client-therapist relations on a long-term basis for solving the issue. CBT focuses on the individual so that the patient can easily change between various therapists at the time of therapy.
Conclusion
So, these are some of the main differences between psychodynamic therapy and CBT based on which you can make decisions on which therapy to adopt. Psychodynamic therapy probes into several unconscious processes and past trauma of the patient and brings in long-term changes. In contrast, CBT focuses on recognizing negative thoughts and behaviors and trying to change them. Both therapies have their advantages and disadvantages, and which you want to select is based on individual goals.
