Psychodynamic Research
Latest Findings and News
This is the space for latest findings and news in the field of psychodynamic research.
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A recent meta-analysis by Moser et al. (2026) showed that long-term psychodynamic therapy is efficacious in complex mental conditions with depressive disorders and even more efficacious than active comparators.
Moser, M., Barrett, A., Woll-Weber, C. F. J., Fonagy, P., Luyten, P., & Campbell, C. (2026). Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Depression and Anxiety, 2026, 6172409. https://doi.org/10.1155/da/6172409
A recent meta-analysis found PDT in social anxiety disorder to be significantly superior to waiting list with a large effect size (Noren et al., 2026). No significant differences to active treatments in general and to CBT in particular were found (Noren et al., 2026). The 95% confidence intervals of the treatment differences were completely included in a margin set by Cuijpers et al. (2025) of clinical significance (± 0.24) Thus, equivalence in outcome can be concluded.
Noren, M., Lindqvist, K., Lilliengren, P., & Mechler, J. (2026). Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. BMC Psychol, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04306-x
Psychodynamic psychotherapy improves daily functioning and reduces negative symptoms in schizophrenia
Psychodynamic psychotherapies have been used to treat psychotic disorders for decades. Now, for the first time, evidence of efficacy has been demonstrated in the randomized controlled trial „Modifizierte psychodynamische Psychotherapie für Patienten mit Schizophrenie“ (MPP-S). The results, published in the renowned journal The Lancet Psychiatry, show that, compared to the control group, the psychotherapy group achieved a measurably higher level of psychosocial functioning. This difference was evident after two years and became more pronounced after three years of follow-up. Negative symptoms also decreased significantly more in the intervention group. The study is a collaboration between IPU Berlin and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The full text can be found here.
First evidence of efficacy for psychodynamic short-term therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder
A research consortium comprising the Universities of Giessen and Göttingen, the Sigmund Freud Institute in Frankfurt, and IPU Berlin was able to demonstrate in an initial randomized controlled trial that short-term psychodynamic therapy clinically significantly reduces obsessive-compulsive symptoms. You can read the publication online via Open Access here.