What is Integrative Psychodynamic Psychotherapy?

A clinical orientation

What is integrative psychodynamic psychotherapy?


Depth therapy that takes the unconscious seriously — and draws on whatever evidence-based approach fits the person in front of us. It's not one technique. It's a way of listening, relating, and working together toward real change.

The short answer

Therapy that goes beneath the symptom.

Integrative psychodynamic psychotherapy is a relational, depth-focused approach to therapy that pays close attention to what's happening underneath the presenting problem.

Anxiety, depression, burnout, relationship patterns — these are often the tip of something older. Not always trauma. Often just the accumulated shape of a life: the early attachments, the unspoken family rules, the coping strategies that once made sense and no longer do.

Psychodynamic work takes those patterns seriously. "Integrative" means we draw from multiple evidence-based approaches — EMDR, IFS, AEDP, CBT, EFT, somatic work — and choose what fits, rather than forcing every person into the same method. The common thread is the therapeutic relationship itself, which research continues to show is one of the strongest predictors of whether therapy actually helps.

The foundations

Four ideas at the heart of the work.

I.
The unconscious matters

Much of what drives our choices, reactions, and relationships happens outside of awareness. Therapy helps make the invisible visible — not to "fix" you, but to give you more room to choose.

II.
The past shapes the present

Early relationships leave templates. Not deterministic, but formative. Noticing how the past shows up in your current life is often where real change starts.

III.
The relationship heals

How you and your therapist come to know each other — the trust, the ruptures, the repairs — is itself therapeutic. It's not just a context for technique. It's the medicine.

IV.
We integrate, thoughtfully

No one method works for everyone. A good clinician knows several, and chooses in response to you — not to a protocol. Evidence-based doesn't mean one-size-fits-all.

Hear it directly

Lectures from the experts who shaped this work.

A handful of free video lectures from some of the most respected teachers in contemporary psychodynamic and experiential psychotherapy. Useful if you're curious, a clinician, or just want to hear the ideas in the words of the people who developed them.

Nancy McWilliams, PhD
What is mental health?
McWilliams moves beyond symptom checklists to describe mental health as a set of capacities on a continuum — resilience, reality-testing, affect tolerance, the capacity for intimacy. A foundational reframe of what therapy is actually for.
Picturing It With Elliot · 24 min Nancy McWilliams →
Nancy McWilliams, PhD
The psychodynamic diagnostic process
How a depth-oriented clinician actually thinks about who you are — personality structure, defense organization, the felt quality of the relationship — rather than just what category of symptoms you meet. An alternative to DSM-style diagnosis.
Picturing It With Elliot Nancy McWilliams →
Jonathan Shedler, PhD
Freud, psychoanalysis & psychodynamic therapy today
Shedler — whose research helped establish psychodynamic therapy as evidence-based — cuts through caricatures of "old-fashioned analysis" and explains what contemporary psychodynamic work actually looks like. Jargon-free and refreshingly direct.
Robinson's Podcast · 1h 25m Jonathan Shedler →
Diana Fosha, PhD
AEDP: trusting vitality
Fosha — developer of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy — describes the core ideas of AEDP: undoing aloneness, attachment-based healing, and the transformational power of affect. A warm, lucid interview on one of the most influential experiential-dynamic models.
Psychotherapy Expert Talks · 52 min Diana Fosha →
At BIPS

How this shows up in our work.

Depth, with flexibility

Our clinicians work from a psychodynamic foundation, but most are trained in additional evidence-based modalities — EMDR, IFS, AEDP, EFT, somatic work, CBT — and bring those in when they fit. Integration isn't a buzzword here; it's how we practice.

The relationship as method

We take seriously the idea that the therapeutic relationship is itself the vehicle for change. That means slow beginnings, careful attention to fit, and a willingness to notice what's happening between you and your therapist — not just what you bring in from outside the room.

Curious about working this way?

Reach out to our intake coordinator. We'll help you find a clinician whose approach, training, and temperament fit what you're looking for.

Get in touch →