ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author shows that several factors should be borne in mind when establishing the indications for a psychodynamically orientated therapeutic technique the patient’s psychology, the therapeutic aims, and the technique employed. He discusses the fundamental criteria that have been identified in establishing the indication for psychoanalytic psychotherapy according to an approach that he call “classical”. The author describes another means of approach, via what he call the “psychodynamic indicators”, in order to establish the patient’s suitability, or otherwise, for psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. From a psychoanalytic perspective, and in accord with Meltzer, therapeutic achievements derive from the adult part of the personality acquiring control over the infantile structures, so that these can then surrender omnipotence. The problem with indications for the psychoanalytic psychotherapies and psychoanalysis is that, whatever diagnostic—even psychodynamic—criteria might be established, these are always too broad to be adapted to any particular patient.
