The Experiential Dynamic Therapies share a number of characteristics. They are all:

• Psychodynamic: they are built on parts of Freudian psychoanalytic theory, in that they work with conflicting unconscious forces within the psyche, with a particular focus on defenses, anxiety, avoided feelings, and transference.  Other aspects of psychoanalytic theory and practice are de-emphasized and even rejected.

• Experiential: EDTs emphasize the importance of experiencing rather than avoiding healthy emotions during psychotherapy sessions, because simply talking about emotions is not sufficient to bring therapeutic change.

• Relational: EDTs focus on emotional closeness and attachment, and make central use of the therapeutic relationship for both assessment and treatment.

• Transformation-oriented: the goal of the EDTs is to help patients achieve meaningful change as rapidly as possible; for many patients, this means a fundamental shift in their orientation to themselves, their relationships, and the world.  While many EDTs retain the words “short-term” in their titles, the foremost goal of an EDT is to achieve significant, lasting change.  In many cases, therapy is dramatically shorter than traditional long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy.