Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a type of psychotherapy, usually meeting about once or twice a week. It is different from other systems of psychotherapy, for instance psychoanalysis or cognitive therapy in that it uses a range of different techniques, applied to the client considering his or her needs. A psychodynamic therapist may find that Object relations theory may be best for a client with Borderline Personality Disorder, and the next client who displays some anxiety in her marriage may be given some cognitive therapy to give symptom relief. Psychotherapy is a set of techniques intended to improve or cure psychological issues in individuals. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods which claim to elucidate unconscious relations in a systematic way through an associative process. ... Cognitive therapy or cognitive behavior therapy is a kind of psychotherapy used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, and other forms of mental disorder. ... Freud invented the concept object relation to describe, or rather to put emphasis on the fact, that bodily drives satisfy their need through a medium, an object, on a specific locus. ... In psychiatry, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterised by extreme black and white thinking, mood swings, emotional reasoning, disrupted relationships and difficulty in functioning in a way society accepts as normal. ...

Most psychodynamic approaches are centered around the idea of a maladapted function developed early in life (usually childhood) which are at least in part unconscious. This maladapted function (a.k.a. defense mechanism) does not do well as it formed instead of a normal/healthy one. Later on the client will feel discomfort when they notice (or don't notice) that this function causes problems day to day. The psychodynamic therapist will first treat the discomfort associated with the poorly formed function, reveal to the client that such a function exists, then change, remove or replace it with a proper one. In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism is an unconscious way to protect ones personality from unpleasant thoughts which may otherwise cause anxiety. ...

Psychodynamic psychotherapy involves a great idea of introspection and reflection from the client. Usually this level of insight is unfettered when the client wants to be helped or is pushed by family or friends. Speaking to this is also the client's ability to dive into their past; they must posses enough reliency and ego-strength to deal with/use the onslaught of feeling a new perspective brings. The more fragile client may be treated with a different treatment, for instance, cognitive therapy.

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