ABSTRACT
The Psychodynamic Psychotherapy recognizes the effects of the unconscious and past events on the present situation. The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy’s definition of counselling refers to it being a ‘freely entered into activity’. Practitioners who are alongside clients who come into the counselling suffering and who leave after just a few sessions clearly more able to cope and happier, describe the experience as ‘a great privilege and joy’. The client needs to be helped to deal with the patterns of adaptive behaviour that they may have got into. The therapist needs to be very flexible in working briefly, being ready to adapt skills to fit the client and to renegotiate both contract and time scale if this seems necessary. The therapist sets the scene for optimism and for the effectiveness of the approach. It is good to point out that belief in the approach is one of the criteria for enabling it to happen.
