Psychosis and individual psychodynamic psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy has, for more than 100 years, provided the basis for psychotherapy of psychosis. Numerous case descriptions and vignettes have appeared, but only a small number of empirical comparative studies have been published. This chapter presents some guidelines for conducting the initial, middle, and termination phase of individual supportive psychodynamic psychotherapy for psychosis. The interventions call for modifications of classical psychoanalytic technique that should be adapted to the mental structures that predispose a person to the development of psychosis, such as the undermined stability of ego functions, the lack of capacity for repression, the disturbed ability for symbol formation and disturbed attachment.