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Formulation, interpretation and the brief dynamic therapies: putting depth to work within real-world limits.
Psychodynamic ideas earn their keep when they change what you do in the room. This course is for practitioners ready to work dynamically under real-world conditions: limited sessions, measurable expectations, and clients who need depth to be usable rather than ornamental.
The first module teaches formulation and interpretation as craft. You will work with Malan's two triangles, the triangle of conflict and the triangle of person, as the most practical formulation device the tradition has produced, and then study interpretation itself: timing, dosage, and how to say deep things in ordinary language that the client can actually use. The second module brings the brief dynamic therapies into focus, including Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy and the intensive short-term tradition: how they select their focus, which patients they suit, and how to work in the transference, without the jargon, inside a sixteen-session frame.
Substantial written lessons with key points and clinically applied practice tasks, and a study tutor to interrogate the material as you go. Ten hours of CPD with around nine months of access, a final assessment, and a personalised certificate on passing. Suited to counsellors, therapists and clinicians adding disciplined depth to time-limited work.
▶ See inside the digital classroom1 minute 36 seconds · how a course is laid out, how each lesson is taught, and how the tutor helps
Before you start
This is a Practitioner course in the psychodynamic pathway. It assumes that you already hold the Foundation knowledge of this approach, whether from the Foundation course or from your training and practice, which is what Psychodynamic Foundations teaches. What it adds is formulation and treatment decisions with real caseloads: the disorder-specific or situation-specific methods, sequencing, and what to do when the standard approach does not work; it revisits the foundations only as far as it needs to before building on them, so it does not repeat the course below.
If you have not met this approach before, Psychodynamic Foundations is the place to start; if you already hold its foundations from your training or practice, this is the right level to begin at.
The psychodynamic pathway. The working model of mind and the therapeutic relationship as contemporary psychodynamic therapy uses them, taught for practice: foundations, working psychodynamically with clients, then advanced practice.
10 study hours10 CPD hours certified9 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 70%)
What you will be able to do
✓Formulate presenting problems psychodynamically, linking current difficulty, defence and early experience
✓Work in the transference: recognise it as it arises, and judge when and how to interpret it
✓Use your countertransference as data while containing rather than enacting it
✓Make interpretations that are timed, dosed and framed so the client can use them
✓Work with dreams, resistance and enactment in ongoing therapy
✓Manage beginnings, breaks and endings as clinical material rather than administration
What you will study
Module 1: Mastering Malan's Triangles and Interpretation Craft
This module explores foundational psychodynamic techniques, including Malan's triangles, defence interpretation, and delivering usable clinical interventions.
Malan's two trianglesTriangle of conflict: feeling, anxiety, defence
The craft of interpretationInterpretation is a tentative hypothesis, offered near awareness
Linking the Two Triangles in Clinical Practice: From Formulation to Transference InterpretationThe hidden feeling is the structural bridge linking the triangle of conflict (intrapsychic) and the triangle of person (interpersonal).
The Third Position and the Art of the Usable InterpretationThe third position is a stance of observation that holds both the patient's internal world and the external reality simultaneously.
Defence Interpretation and Resistance Analysis: Working the Triangle of Conflict in the Clinical MomentDefence interpretation follows a graded sequence of pressure, challenge, and interpretation, calibrated to the patient's anxiety tolerance and defence maturity.
Module 2: Integrating Attachment and Formulation in Brief Dynamics
This module examines how internal working models and structural resistance inform brief dynamic therapy and modern interpersonal approaches.
The Triangle of Reality and the Dynamics of Structural ResistanceThe Triangle of Reality represents the patient's structural resistance to change, distinct from defensive resistance seen in the Triangle of Conflict.
Attachment and the Unconscious: Integrating Internal Working Models into Psychodynamic Formulation and InterpretationAttachment internal working models provide a latent organising principle for the unconscious fantasy in the triangle of conflict.
Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy and the brief traditionBrief dynamic work pursues one agreed relational focus
Working in the transference without the jargonNotice the client's characteristic use of you; say it plainly, tied to a live instant
The Therapeutic Contract and Focused Formulation in Brief Dynamic TherapyA clear therapeutic contract establishes temporal limits, a shared focus and a calibrated therapist stance, providing a safe container for intensive work.
Module 3: Applied Mechanics and Endings in Brief Dynamic Work
This module focuses on core conflictual relationship themes, handling transference and resistance, and managing therapeutic endings effectively.
Termination and the Incomplete Ending in Brief Dynamic WorkThe 'incomplete ending' is a transference phenomenon where patients demand the therapist remain indefinitely to soothe their anxieties about separation.
Managing Resistance and the "Here-and-Now" Focus in Brief Dynamic WorkResistance in brief dynamic work is often a defence against the anxiety of change and the time constraint itself.
Applying the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme in Brief Dynamic TherapyThe Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) distils relational patterns into Wish, Response of the Other, and Response of the Self, providing a concise formulation for brief therapy.
The Mechanics of Interpretation and Confrontation in the Brief SettingInterpretation in brief work requires the precise 'pinpointing' of the specific CCRT mechanism blocking the patient's ability to feel or enact their wishes.
What's included
3 modules and 14 lessons
A 10-question final assessment, with a 70% pass mark
A certificate for 10 CPD hours when you pass it
An extended clinical case study with discussion questions
A glossary of key terms
Private notes, a reflection for each module, and a CPD log you can print or save as a PDF
📖 Written lessons with key points and practice tasks◆ Visual teaching diagrams🎥 Video where it helps🎧 Listen-to-this-lesson narration👩⚕️ A full clinical case study🧠 AI tutor in every lesson📄 Full course workbook (PDF) on completion📕 The course book (PDF) while you study, with your name in it
Speak the language: by the end you will use The unconscious · Defence mechanism · Transference · Countertransference · Object relations · Internal working model · Projective identification · Containment · The frame · Resistance and more, precisely.
