Depression and the self in short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Abstract

In this article we discuss some of the relevant theoretical, technical, and clinical issues in the treatment of depression with short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy. When successful, we suggest that such psychotherapy results in changes involving aspects of the self. We believe that this is particularly likely to occur when the technique emphasizes the interpretation of the nature of the client's relationship to the therapist. To illustrate this approach, we present the case of a clinically depressed woman treated in time-limited, short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy. We demonstrate the nature of the therapeutic work typical of this treatment using verbatim vignettes from two sessions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.