Psychodynamic Research
PDT has been shown to fulfill the criteria of international boards for empirically supported psychotherapy.
USA: PDT was shown to fulfil the criteria for empirically supported treatments proposed by Chambless and Hollon (1998) for common mental disorders (Leichsenring, Leweke, et al., 2015; Leichsenring, Luyten, et al., 2015).
USA: PDT has been shown to fulfill the updated criteria of the American Psychological Association (Leichsenring et al., 2023; Tolin et al., 2015) for empirically supported therapy, allowing for strong recommendations for common mental disorders.
This applies to depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and somatoform disorders (Leichsenring et al., 2023).
Here, PDT proved to be superior to waiting list and treatment as usual (TAU) with large or medium effect sizes with high or moderate quality evidence in depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and somatoform disorders (Leichsenring et al., 2023).
Compared to other evidence-based treatments no differences in efficacy were found with small and clinically insignificant between-group effect sizes in depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders (Barber et al., 2021; Driessen et al., 2015; Keefe et al., 2014; Keefe et al., 2020; Leichsenring et al., 2023).
In somatoform disorders (somatic symptom disorders) PDT seems to achieve results at least comparable to other active treatments (Abbass et al., 2021; Gutkin et al., 2020).
These results were stable in follow-ups (Leichsenring et al., 2023)
In addition to reducing symptom severity PDT achieved statistically and clinically significant effect sizes in functioning (Leichsenring et al., 2023)
Germany: Psychodynamic therapy of up to 100 sessions has been acknowledged as a scientific and efficacious treatment in Germany (https://www.wbpsychotherapie.de/gutachten/abgeschlossene-gutachten/psychodynamische-psychotherapie) for:
· depressive disorders,
· anxiety disorders,
· stress disorders,
· dissociative, conversion and somatoform disorders,
· personality disorders,
· schizophrenic disorders,
· eating disorders,
· substance-related disorders,
· psychological and somatic factors in somatic disorders
Certifications in other countries:
More to come
WHO: The WHO lists short-term psychodynamic therapy as a treatment option for depressive disorders (World Health Organization, 2024). The WHO, however, overlooks the significant evidence for psychodynamic therapy in other mental disorders and conditions such as anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, personality disorders, or suicidality and self-harm (Leichsenring et al., in press).
References
Abbass, A., Lumley, M. A., Town, J., Holmes, H., Luyten, P., Cooper, A., Russell, L., Schubiner, H., De Meulemeester, C., & Kisely, S. (2021). Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for functional somatic disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of within-treatment effects. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 145, 110473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2021.110473
Barber, J. P., Muran, J. C., McCarthy, K. S., Keefe R.J., & Zilcha-Mano, S. (2021). Research on psychodynamic therapies In Barkham; M., L. G. Castonguay, ,, & W. Lutz (Eds.), Bergin and Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change (7th ed.) (pp. 387-419). Wiley.
Chambless, D. L., & Hollon, S. D. (1998). Defining empirically supported therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 7-18.
Driessen, E., Hegelmaier, L. M., Abbass, A. A., Barber, J. P., Dekker, J. J., Van, H. L., Jansma, E. P., & Cuijpers, P. (2015). The efficacy of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for depression: A meta-analysis update [Review]. Clinical Psychology Review, 42, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.07.004
Gutkin, M., McLean, L., Brown, R., & Kanaan, R. A. (2020). Systematic review of psychotherapy for adults with functional neurological disorder. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2019-321926
https://www.wbpsychotherapie.de/gutachten/abgeschlossene-gutachten/psychodynamische-psychotherapie.
Keefe, J. R., McCarthy, K. S., Dinger, U., Zilcha-Mano, S., & Barber, J. P. (2014). A meta-analytic review of psychodynamic therapies for anxiety disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(4), 309-323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2014.03.004
Keefe, J. R., McMain, S. F., McCarthy, K. S., Zilcha-Mano, S., Dinger, U., Sahin, Z., Graham, K., & Barber, J. P. (2020). A meta-analysis of psychodynamic treatments for borderline and cluster C personality disorders [Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural]. Personal Disord, 11(3), 157-169. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000382
Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Heim, N., Keefe, J. R., Kisely, S., Luyten, P., Rabung, S., & Steinert, C. (2023). The status of psychodynamic psychotherapy as an empirically supported treatment for common mental disorders - an umbrella review based on updated criteria. World Psychiatry, 22(2), 286-304. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.21104
Leichsenring, F., Leweke, F., Klein, S., & Steinert, C. (2015). The empirical status of psychodynamic psychotherapy - an update: Bambi's alive and kicking [Review]. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(3), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1159/000376584
Leichsenring, F., Luyten, P., Hilsenroth, M. J., Abbass, A., Barber, J. P., Keefe, J. R., Leweke, F., Rabung, S., & Steinert, C. (2015). Psychodynamic therapy meets evidence-based medicine: a systematic review using updated criteria [Review]. Lancet Psychiatry, 2(7), 648-660. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00155-8
Leichsenring, F., Abbass, A., Fonagy, P., Levy, K., Lilliengren, P., Luyten. P., Midgley, N., Milrod, B., & Steinert, C. (in press). The WHO treatment guideline for mental disorders Lancet Psychiatry.
Tolin, D., McKay, D., Forman, E. M., Klonsky, E. D., & Thombs, B. D. (2015). Empirically supported treatments: recommendations for a new model. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice https://doi.org/10.1111.cpsp.12122
World Health Organization. (2024). Implementation manual for psychological interventions: integrating evidence-based psychological interventions into existing services. ISBN 978-92-4-008714-9 (electronic version). ISBN 978-92-4-008715-6 (print version).