Whether you’re new to psychodynamic therapy or a long-term client, it’s important to know that psychodynamic therapy is effective and evidence-based.
Below are links to resources that are regularly recommended by psychodynamic psychotherapists. We are happy to receive feedback on items for inclusion at content@psychodynamiccanada.org.
Books

Guilt: A Contemporary Introduction
Carveth, D. (2023) Guilt: A Contemporary Introduction. New York: Routledge
This insightful and innovative book sheds light on the complexity of the concept of guilt, while exploring aspects of guilt that have previously been overlooked in psychoanalytic theory and discourse.
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Psychoanalytic Thinking
Carveth, D. (2018) Psychoanalytic Thinking. New York: Routledge
Beginning with Freud’s theory of human nature and civilization, Psychoanalytic Thinking: A Dialectical Critique of Contemporary Theory and Practice proceeds to review and critically evaluate a series of major post-Freudian contributions to psychoanalytic thought.
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Money on Your Mind: The Psychology Behind Your Financial Habits by Vicky Reynal
Reynal, V. (2024) Money on Your Mind: The Psychology Behind Your Financial Habits. New York: The Experiment, LLC
Financial Psychotherapist Vicky Reynal dives into different money behaviours such as overspending, underspending, money secrets and self-sabotage to reveal how our past experiences impact our relationship with money.
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The Last Taboo by Dr. David Krueger
Krueger, D. (Ed.)(1986) The Last Taboo. Routledge.
Dr. David Krueger formerly practiced and taught Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. He was also an Executive Coach who integrated psychology, neuroscience and coaching with a focus on success strategies.
This book includes 24 papers, divided into three categories: theoretical and symbolic meanings of money, money in the therapist-patient relationship, and payment structures and management issues.
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Money and Mind by Sheila Klebanow and Eugene L. Lowenkopf
Klebanow, S. and Lowenkopf, E.L. (Eds.)(2012) Money and Mind. Kluwer Boston Incorporated
Money has been essential to the rise and development of civilization, with the first known writings being records of simple business transactions. Present dealings with money have become infinitely more complicated but its basic meaning remains the same, a medium underlying all goods and services (including therapy), in which comparative values are measured and by which they are acquired.
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The Body Keeps the Score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma by Bessel Van der Kolk
Van der Kolk, Bessel A. (2015) The Body Keeps the Score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York: Penguin Random House
One of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.
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Jung: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Stevens
Stevens, A. (2001) Jung: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press
In this extremely accessible introduction, Anthony Stevens--one of Britain's foremost Jungian analysts--clearly explains the basic concepts of Jungian psychology: the collective unconscious, complex, archetype, shadow, persona, anima, animus, and the individualization of the Self.
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Grief Works by Julia Samuel
Samuel, J. (2017) Grief Works. Milton Keynes, Great Britain: Penguin Random House
Grief Works is a compassionate handbook written by psychodynamic psychotherapist Julia Samuel to support, inform and engage anyone who is grieving, from the 'expected' death of a parent to the sudden and unexpected death of a small child.
With deeply moving case studies based on real stories of loss, it is brilliantly accessible and provides clear advice for those seeking to comfort the bereaved.
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Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Judith Lewis Herman
Herman, J. (2015) Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror New York: Basic Books
A foundational text on understanding trauma survivors. Psychiatrist Judith L. Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research as well as a vast literature, she shows surprising parallels between private and public horrors.
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The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz
Grosz, S. (2014) The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves. London: Penguin Random House
A book of stories as powerful as therapy itself: psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz draws vivid, compelling lessons from his decades of practice to uncover the hidden feelings behind our ordinary behaviour.
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Why Love Matters – how affection shapes a baby’s brain by Sue Gerhardt
Gerhardt, S. (2014) Why Love Matters – how affection shapes a baby’s brain. New York: Routledge
Why Love Matters explains why loving relationships are essential to brain development in the early years, and how these early interactions can have lasting consequences for future emotional and physical health.
The author focuses in particular on the wide-ranging effects of early stress on a baby or toddler’s developing nervous system, relationships in early life and the brain’s emotion and immune systems.
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Therapy Wars: The Revenge of Freud
The Guardian - January 7, 2016
Cheap and effective, CBT became the dominant form of therapy, consigning Freud to psychology’s dingy basement. But new studies have cast doubt on its supremacy – and shown dramatic results for psychoanalysis. Is it time to get back on the couch?
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Psychodynamic Therapy: There’s More to it Than Lying on a Couch Talking About Your Childhood
The Conversation - Jan 6, 2016
When it comes to more deep-seated psychological problems, new research suggests that psychodynamic psychotherapy – in which the therapist and patient form a therapeutic relationship where the patient can begin to think about and understand their past and present relationships with others and consider new ways to relate to people – can be effective.
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The Gift Of Therapy by Irvin Yalom
"A book aimed at enriching the therapeutic process for a new generation of patients and counselors, Yalom’s Gift of Therapy is an entertaining, informative, and insightful read for anyone with an interest in the subject." - Harper Collins Canada
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You are Not Your Depression by Karin Porter
You are Not Your Depression challenges the feelings of hopelessness experienced by the depressed and offers practical suggestions about how to use their resources to deal with the dark periods. Karin Porter discusses everything from getting out of bed in the morning to healthy nutrition, to using talismans to stay in touch with feelings of optimism. She puts the depressed person in touch with the larger picture of life so easily lost when depression descends." - FriesenPress
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Hold Me Tight by Sue Johnson
"Heralded by the New York Times and Time as the couples therapy with the highest rate of success, Emotionally Focused Therapy works because it views the love relationship as an attachment bond.
This idea, once controversial, is now supported by science, and has become widely popular among therapists around the world. In Hold Me Tight, Dr. Sue Johnson presents Emotionally Focused Therapy to the general public for the first time. Johnson teaches that the way to save and enrich a relationship is to reestablish safe emotional connection and preserve the attachment bond. With this in mind, she focuses on key moments in a relationship-from “Recognizing the Demon Dialogue” to “Revisiting a Rocky Moment” — and uses them as touch points for seven healing conversations.
Through case studies from her practice, illuminating advice, and practical exercises, couples will learn how to nurture their relationships and ensure a lifetime of love." - Hachette Book Group
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In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction By Dr. Gabor Maté
"In this timely and profoundly original book, writer and physician Gabor Maté looks at the epidemic of various addictions in our society, tells us why we are so prone to them and outlines what is needed to liberate ourselves from their hold. Starting with a dramatically close view of Maté's drug addicted patients, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts weaves in stories of real people while providing a bold synthesis of clinical experience, insight and cutting-edge scientific findings. A haunting, compassionate and deeply personal examination of the nature of addiction." - Penguin Random House Canada
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Handbook of Evidence-Based Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Practice
by G.O. Gabbard (Foreword), Raymond A. Levy (Editor), J. Stuart Ablon (Editor)
Springer, 2009
Brings together a panel of distinguished clinician-researchers who published findings suggest that psychodynamic psychotherapy is an effective treatment for many common psychological problems.
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Evidence Based Counselling and Psychological Therapies
Edited by Nancy Rowland, Stephen Goss
Routledge, 2000
A range of contributors provide an overview of evidence-based health care and the research methods that underpin it, demonstrating its effect on policy, provision, practitioners and patients.
Read MoreArticles
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Brings Lasting Benefits through Self-Knowledge
Jonathan K. Shedler, PhD
University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine; American Psychologist, Vol. 65. No.2., 2010
A journal article reporting on the distinctive features of psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as empirical evidence sup
Read moreLonger-duration Psychotherapy Appears More Beneficial for Treatment of Complex Mental Disorders
Falk Leichsenring, D.Sc., Sven Rabung, Ph.D.
JAMA, 2008
A brief article citing studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggesting that longer-term psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective and superior to shorter-term therapy for patients with complex mental disorders such as personality and chronic mental disorders.
Read MoreThe Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Jonathan Shedler
University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, 2010
A journal article reporting on the distinctive features of psychodynamic psychotherapy as well as empirical evidence supporting its efficacy.
Read MoreA Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy for Panic Disorder
Barbara Milrod, M.D. Andrew C. Leon, Ph.D. et al
Am J Psychiatry, 2007
Evidence as to the efficacy of panic-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy relative to applied relaxation training.
Read MoreDoes Psychotherapy Benefit Neurotic Patients?
Andrews G, Harvey R.
Archives of General Psychiatry, 1981
Research findings indicating that behavior and psychodynamic verbal therapies appear to be superior to other therapies in treating clients who experience heightened neurosis.
Read MoreA Five-year Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Person-centred Counselling in Routine Clinical Practice in Primary Care
Isabel Gibbard, Terry Hanley
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2008
Research findings indicating that that person-centred counselling is effective for clients with common mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression.
Read MoreInside the Experience of Anorexia Nervosa: a Narrative Thematic Analysis
James Alistair Ross, Charlotte Green
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
Linking research with practice Volume 11, Issue 2, 2011
Research findings indicating the importance of the therapeutic relationship and suggesting that psychodynamic and attachment theories should be used to inform overall treatment models for women with anorexia nervosa.
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