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Lara Kennerly, PsyD
What Is Psychodynamic Therapy?
Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented form of talk therapy that focuses on the roots of emotional suffering. While some approaches focus primarily on managing current symptoms or behaviors, psychodynamic therapy explores how past experiences, early relationships, and long-standing emotional tendencies may continue to influence your mental health and daily life.
The approach is based on the idea that certain thoughts, feelings, and experiences can remain outside of conscious awareness. As a result, people may find themselves repeating the same relationship dynamics, reacting in ways they do not fully understand, or feeling stuck in cycles of anxiety, self-criticism, or emotional distress.
How Psychodynamic Therapy Works
Psychodynamic therapy begins with a strong therapeutic relationship. As trust develops, conversations can move beyond surface-level concerns and explore thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences that may be connected to current challenges.
Sessions encourage open and honest exploration. As different experiences are discussed, recurring themes, emotional reactions, and long-standing patterns often become easier to recognize. A therapist may notice when certain topics feel difficult to discuss, when familiar struggles continue to reappear, or when particular situations trigger strong emotional responses.
Psychodynamic therapy also examines the protective strategies people develop in response to difficult experiences. While these strategies may have served an important purpose at one time, they can sometimes create obstacles in relationships, self-esteem, or emotional well-being. By bringing these tendencies into awareness, it becomes possible to understand them more clearly and begin responding in different ways.
What Can Psychodynamic Therapy Help With?
Psychodynamic therapy can be particularly helpful when the same challenges keep resurfacing despite your efforts to address them. It is commonly used to support people experiencing concerns such as:
Repetitive Relationship Patterns
Finding yourself stuck in the same frustrating communication cycles, struggling with codependency, or repeatedly choosing relationships that leave you feeling unfulfilled.
Anxiety Without a Clear Cause
Living with ongoing worry, dread, or tension that feels difficult to explain based on your current circumstances.
Persistent Low Mood and Emptiness
Experiencing a lingering sense of sadness, emptiness, or dissatisfaction, even when things appear to be going well on the surface.
Unexplained Emotional Blocks
Knowing what you want to do differently, yet feeling unable to move forward despite your best efforts.
Defensive Habits and Avoidance
Noticing that your automatic response to stress, conflict, disappointment, or vulnerability is to withdraw, shut down, avoid, or keep others at a distance.
People-Pleasing and Difficulty Setting Boundaries
Putting the needs of others ahead of your own, avoiding conflict, or feeling guilty when you try to say no.
Low Self-Esteem and Self-Criticism
Struggling with harsh self-judgment, persistent self-doubt, or a feeling that you are never quite good enough.
Childhood Emotional Wounds
Work through the lasting impact of childhood experiences that continue to influence your confidence, emotional well-being, and sense of self.
Who Can Benefit from Psychodynamic Therapy?
While psychodynamic therapy can be helpful for a wide range of concerns, it is often a particularly good fit for adults who want to better understand the patterns, experiences, and beliefs that shape their lives.
High-Functioning Professionals
Managing demanding careers while privately carrying stress, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, or a lingering sense that success hasn't brought the fulfillment you expected.
Chronic Perfectionists
Living with constant pressure to perform, achieve, or get things right while struggling to feel satisfied with your accomplishments.
People Stuck in Relationship Loops
Repeating the same conflicts, frustrations, or disappointments across romantic relationships, friendships, family relationships, or the workplace.
Those Wanting More Than a Quick Fix
Interested in exploring the experiences, emotions, and beliefs that continue to influence your life rather than focusing only on symptom management.
Meet Your Psychodynamic Therapist in Sacramento, CA
Hi, I’m Dr. Lara Kennerly, a Psychodynamic therapist. I help high-functioning adults who feel lost, disconnected, or unfulfilled work not just on what’s happening now-but also on one's deeper emotional patterns underneath.
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on exploring the unconscious mind and past experiences in order to better understand current feelings and behaviors.
It’s a longer-term therapy that can be beneficial for a wide variety of mental health issues (such as chronic depression, anxiety disorders, somatic disorder, PTSD, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders), and is especially well-suited for self-reflective, motivated, and inquisitive individuals who may have tried other forms of therapy before without getting the meaningful long-term change they hoped for, or have been pushing through their difficulties on their own for years but are now ready to take a new step and try therapy and that professional expertise to help them get to those real answers and solutions for their long-standing difficulties.
I provide psychodynamic therapy for adults in Sacramento and nearby communities, including Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Rocklin, Lincoln, and surrounding areas, as well as online throughout California.
Frequently asked questions
In-Person and Online Psychodynamic Therapy in Sacramento & California
Some challenges continue to resurface despite our efforts to change them. You may notice them in your relationships, the way you respond to stress, the expectations you place on yourself, or the habits that seem difficult to break.
Psychodynamic therapy offers an opportunity to look at those patterns more closely, understand how they developed, and explore new ways of relating to yourself and others.
Dr. Lara Kennerly provides psychodynamic therapy for adults in Sacramento and online throughout California. Contact today to schedule your free consultation.