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Indications for Psychotherapy
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By definition the indications for psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy are limitless but special attention may be drawn to:
- Bereavement reactions
- Reactions to illness in the patient or family
- Abortions - spontaneous or "therapeutic"
- Drinking problems
The indications and contra-indications for psychodynamic/psychoanalytic psychotherapy are much more specific, though as in any medical decision there has to be a judgement as to the relative weighting of any given feature.
Indications |
Contra-indications |
Neurotic disorder |
Psychotic disorder |
Psychosomatic disorders (some) |
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Psychopathic personality |
Mild to moderate personality disorder |
Wanting to change both symptomatically and in personality function |
Wanting doctor to just magic away disorder the symptoms |
Capacity for sustained work |
Impulsive - poor control e.g. frequent suicide attempts |
Reasonably verbal and intelligent |
Paranoid traits |
Capacity for relating |
Life-long entrenched attitude of pessimism |
Generally supportive relationships |
A fixed, impossible social setup |
Some past indications of success |
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The greater the weighting of positive indicators relative to contra-indicators the more likely is there to be a successful outcome to therapy.
A more comprehensive guide to referral is given later which gives some indication as to when preference might be given to a psychodynamic, a cognitive/ behavioural or a psychiatric referral.
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