An essay on contemporary dynamic psychiatry.

Abstract

Psychodynamic theory is less well understood than one would wish, especially because of the centrality of dynamic theories in understanding a host of psychiatric disorders. The key psychodynamic notion is that psychiatric symptoms can be explained as manifestations of an unconscious purpose or strategy. The theoretical term that best encompasses this notion is "intentionality", a theoretical option that has, in many psychiatric circumstances, the greatest predictive and explanatory powers. Other more or less loosely related dynamic theories are the theory of the Oedipus complex, developmental theory, the theory of transference and the extraclinical theory. New theoretical paradigms are currently competing for explanatory priority, a development which reflects a healthy maturity in psychodynamic science, and which may mean that a new and superordinate theoretical paradigm is about to emerge. At a time of theoretical ferment it is particularly important that the theoretical underpinning of dynamic psychiatry be clearly explicated and the author claims that theoretical role for intentionality.