Dynamic Therapy London offers psychodynamic therapy in Central London and online, with the work informed by Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP).​

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The service is intended for people looking for psychotherapy that combines established psychodynamic practice with close clinical supervision, video review and deliberate practice.​

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At present, therapy is provided by a qualified psychodynamic psychotherapist trained to MSc level in psychodynamic therapy, BPC registration and BACP Senior Accreditation, who is undertaking further advanced, post-qualifying training and supervision in ISTDP.​

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The therapy offered through Dynamic Therapy London is grounded in psychodynamic psychotherapy and informed by principles from Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. 

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​ISTDP is an active and experiential form of psychodynamic psychotherapy. It pays close attention to emotional experience, the ways anxiety is felt in the body, and patterns of coping or avoidance that may have become automatic and may contribute to continuing distress or relationship difficulties. ​

 

ISTDP also draws on attachment theory, including an interest in how earlier relationship experiences may influence the ways feelings, anxiety and closeness are managed in adult life. 

​In practice, therapist and client may pay careful attention not only to what is being discussed, but also to what is happening emotionally in the session itself: what feelings are emerging, how anxiety is experienced, and what patterns may make it difficult to remain in contact with important emotional experience. The work remains collaborative, and the pace and intensity of therapy are adapted to the individual.​

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Why Sessions Are Recorded

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Sessions provided by the service are video-recorded for clinical review and supervision. A therapy session contains a great deal of information, and it is not always possible for a therapist to notice everything while also remaining fully engaged in the conversation. Recording allows important moments to be reviewed afterwards in greater detail.​ This may include considering how the client responded to a particular intervention, whether anxiety increased or decreased, whether an important feeling or pattern was overlooked, and whether the therapist might have responded differently.

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Parts of recorded sessions can then be brought to specialist supervision, allowing the work to be examined directly rather than relying only on the therapist’s memory of what occurred.

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Deliberate Practice

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Video recording also makes possible a form of professional development known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice means doing more than simply accumulating experience through seeing increasing numbers of clients. The therapist deliberately identifies aspects of their clinical work that could be improved, reviews specific moments from sessions, receives feedback and then works on developing those skills.

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​The purpose is to keep the therapist’s work open to examination rather than allowing clinical habits to become automatic or go unchallenged. Research into therapist development suggests that focused practice of this kind is associated with stronger therapist performance. It cannot guarantee a particular therapeutic outcome, but it provides an additional way of scrutinising and continually refining the care being offered.​

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The work undertaken by the therapist covers considerably more than the 50 minutes spent together in the therapy room.​

Each case may also involve clinical time outside the session, including:

• reviewing sections of recorded sessions;

• reflecting on the therapeutic process;

• considering anything that may have been missed;

• planning the next stage of the work; and

• bringing selected clinical material to specialist supervision.

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This means that the therapy benefits not only from the therapist’s attention during the session, but also from additional clinical attention between sessions and from the perspective of experienced clinicians involved in supervision and consultation.

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Specialist Supervision

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The clinical work is supported by supervision and consultation with highly experienced ISTDP clinicians and trainers. Supervision allows particular moments in therapy to be examined carefully, helps identify processes that may have been missed, and provides an additional perspective on how the treatment might develop.

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The Initial Consultation

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​Before beginning regular therapy, you will meet with the therapist for an initial consultation. This gives the therapist an opportunity to understand your current difficulties, what you would like help with and whether this approach is likely to be suitable. It also gives you an opportunity to experience the way the therapist works, ask questions and consider whether you would feel comfortable continuing.

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The decision to proceed is therefore made collaboratively after the consultation. The initial consultation as an opportunity for the therapist to understand the difficulty while allowing the client to gain a clear sense of how the therapist works before deciding whether to continue. 

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Recording and Consent

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Sessions are recorded only with your explicit written consent. Because video review and supervision are integral to this Service, agreement to recording is a condition of  consenting to treatment. 

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Before treatment begins, you will receive clear information explaining  how recordings are made and stored; who may view them; how material may be used within clinical supervision and professional development; how confidentiality is protected; and how long recordings are retained. You can decide whether this arrangement feels appropriate for you before agreeing to begin treatment.

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