Very interesting to read about Shedler meta-analysis and that idea that personality reorganisation is being tracked following the end of therapy. Often in psychotherapy research circles we defer back to the ‘Dodo Bird’ finding - that ultimately the modalities have similar outcomes and that other factors, such as the competency of individual therapists, may be at least as important. But the logic of substantial change under a psychodynamic approach really makes sense - like ‘teach a man to fish’.

I thought about how often counselling skills training can leave practitioners with skills squarely in the validation zone, and that often the ‘optimal frustration’ that we create through challenges develops beyond clinical training - perhaps that’s how it should be, safety first.

Love the metaphor of therapist as archaeologist.