Psychoanalytic & Psychodynamic Comparisons
Comparing psychoanalysis, TFP, MBT, ISTDP, relational and object-relations approaches.
The psychodynamic family agrees that what is out of awareness organizes what happens in the room, and disagrees about almost everything after that: whether the therapist is a neutral surface or a participant, whether interpretation or the relationship is what changes anything, whether the target is conflict, deficit, structure or dissociation, and how much of this can be manualized without ceasing to be the thing it was.
These pages set those disagreements out explicitly, because they determine what a session actually sounds like. They also take the evidence question seriously in both directions: several approaches in this lineage now have trial support and guideline mentions that the field’s reputation for being untested no longer reflects, while others have a century of clinical literature and very little else. Both facts belong on the page.
58 comparisons · 19 within the same tradition · 39 across traditions
Across traditions
Comparisons where the two approaches disagree about what a person is, not only about technique.
- 12-Step Facilitation vs Community Reinforcement Approach
- 12-Step Facilitation vs Contingency Management
- 12-Step Facilitation vs Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention
- Adlerian Therapy vs Reality Therapy / Choice Theory
- Adlerian Therapy vs Transactional Analysis
- AEDP vs Attachment-Focused EMDR
- AEDP vs Circle of Security
- AEDP vs Functional Analytic Psychotherapy
- AEDP vs IFS
- Attachment-Focused EMDR vs Circle of Security
- Attachment-Focused EMDR vs Schema Therapy
- CBASP vs Short-Term Psychodynamic
- CBT vs IPT
- Child-Parent Psychotherapy vs Circle of Security
- Circle of Security vs Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT)
- Circle of Security vs Theraplay
- Clinical Hypnotherapy vs Ego State Therapy
- Coherence Therapy vs Emotion-Focused Therapy
- Coherence Therapy vs IFS
- Contextual Therapy vs Psychoanalysis
- Contextual Therapy vs Relational Psychoanalysis
- Contextual Therapy vs Short-Term Psychodynamic
- Ego State Therapy vs IFS
- Emotion-Focused Therapy vs IPT
- Emotion-Focused Therapy vs ISTDP
- Emotion-Focused Therapy vs Psychodrama
- Functional Analytic Psychotherapy vs Relational Psychoanalysis
- IFS vs Schema Therapy
- Interpersonal Process Group Therapy vs Psychodrama
- Interpersonal Process Group Therapy vs Relational Psychoanalysis
- IPNB vs Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT)
- IPT vs Relational-Cultural Therapy
- IPT vs Supportive Psychotherapy
- Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention vs Psychoanalysis
- Process Group Therapy vs Psychoanalysis
- Process Group Therapy vs Psychodrama
- Process Group Therapy vs Supportive Psychotherapy
- Psychoanalysis vs Transactional Analysis
- Supportive Psychotherapy vs Worden's Task Model of Mourning
Within the same tradition
Comparisons between approaches that share a worldview and differ in method or emphasis.
- Adlerian Therapy vs Psychoanalysis
- AEDP vs Relational Psychoanalysis
- Analytical Psychology vs Lacanian Psychoanalysis
- Analytical Psychology vs Psychoanalysis
- CBASP vs IPT
- Child-Parent Psychotherapy vs Theraplay
- Dual Process Model of Grief vs Worden's Task Model of Mourning
- IPT vs Prolonged Grief Disorder Treatment (PGDT/CGT)
- ISTDP vs Psychoanalysis
- ISTDP vs Short-Term Psychodynamic
- Lacanian Psychoanalysis vs Psychoanalysis
- Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT) vs Psychoanalysis
- Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT) vs Relational Psychoanalysis
- Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT) vs Short-Term Psychodynamic
- Mentalization-Based Tx (MBT) vs Transference-Focused (TFP)
- Prolonged Grief Disorder Treatment (PGDT/CGT) vs Worden's Task Model of Mourning
- Psychoanalysis vs Short-Term Psychodynamic
- Psychoanalysis vs Transference-Focused (TFP)
- Short-Term Psychodynamic vs Transference-Focused (TFP)