Many people who come to counseling are seeking solutions to obstacles in their current lives, but they may not realize that our present circumstances are often influenced by past experiences. The goal of psychodynamic counseling is not to get stuck in the past, but to understand how early (and often unconscious) experiences may be the key to solving our present difficulties. These may be issues that we have previously attempted to deal with through cognitive behavioral and problem-solving approaches.

Modern psychodynamic psychotherapy utilizes information from ego psychology, self psychology, and object relations. This often feels liberating to clients who have tried many approaches. It enables them to understand the unconscious forces that have negatively impacted them in the past, and they are able to find sustained relief from these issues.