Using psychodynamic principles in guided internet-delivered therapy (IPDT)

Abstract

During the last years, a number of trials on internet-delivered psychodynamic treatment (IPDT) have shown promising results. In this article we discuss whether two important facets of psychodynamic therapy, that of the therapeutic relationship (especially the transference) and that of emotional processing, are applicable and useful in IPDT. We argue that the therapist role in IPDT does not need to be mainly a supportive one. In this article we try to illustrate that working with the transference relationship and facilitating deep emotional processing is possible in IPDT, potentially adding to the effect of solely taking a supportive stance in guiding through the self-help material. We argue that unguided treatments might make less sense when based on psychodynamic theory due to the lack of a therapeutic relationship and conclude by stating that future research on IPDT could use dismantling designs to establish what therapeutic techniques that are associated with change.