Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT)

Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy

Dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) can help people with emotional and relationship problems.

When a person can deal with relationship problems more effectively, their psychological symptoms often improve.

DIT is a time-limited psychodynamic therapy. Time-limited therapy happens over a fixed number of sessions. One of the main ideas in psychodynamic therapy is that when something is very painful we can try to ignore it. It’s a bit like the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’. 

Most of the time we know when we’re doing this, but sometimes we bury something so successfully that we lose sight of it completely. This is why difficult experiences in the past can continue to affect the way we feel and behave in the present. 

DIT provides a safe place to talk openly about how you feel and to understand what might be causing your difficulties. 


What problems can DIT help?

Dynamic interpersonal therapy can help people with emotional and relationship problems. It has been developed for the following:

  1. Depression
  2. Bipolar disorder,
  3. Social phobia, 
  4. Eating Disorders
  5. Substance addictions
  6. Bereavement,
  7. Adjusting to parenthood and/or postnatal depression,
  8. Conflict in interpersonal relationships: marriage breakdown
  9. Coping with diagnosis of a life-changing ailment,
  10. Social isolation and associated problems.


During the therapeutic period, clients learn problem-solving skills for effective management of their own emotions and as a result able to interact with others in a  socially acceptable way.

Therapy sessions

Dynamic interpersonal therapy is a short term therapy that is usually offered in a set of 16 sessions. But this can be decided between you and your therapist at your first consultation


Dynamic interpersonal therapy uses what happens in the relationship between you and your therapist to help think about the problems in your life. This means that your therapist often draws your attention to what you feel in the session. The idea is that by exploring the relationship between you and your therapist, you get a better understanding of what is troubling you. 


Dynamic interpersonal therapy therefore helps you achieve the following:

  • understand yourself and others
  • reflect on your thoughts and feelings
  • take responsibility for your action with others
  • improved relationships
  • increased capacity for emotional intimacy
  • better moods and lower anxiety
  • see your options more clearly
  • make better choices for yourself


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