Free Therapist Training›Psychodynamic Therapy Toolkit›Psychodynamic Progress Note
Last updated: November 11, 2026
A psychodynamic progress note records a session for the clinical record: the client's focus, what you observed, risk, the relational themes that came up, the interventions you used, how the client responded, progress toward goals and the plan. The template below comes in a narrative version and a SOAP version, and completed examples of both follow for the same invented session. All of it is free to copy, print and adapt.
The template is part of the Sentio MFT program's free psychodynamic therapy toolkit. For wording that describes therapeutic inquiry, process comments, defense work or transference interpretations in a note, see the psychodynamic interventions list.
This is an optional aid from the Sentio MFT program's psychodynamic therapy toolkit. It is not an official form of any agency or payer.
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Progress note
| Item | What to record |
|---|---|
| Client, date and session number | |
| Start and end time; in person or telehealth; who attended | |
| Focus of the session | In the client's words where possible |
| Observations | Appearance, affect and its shifts, engagement, changes since the last session |
| Risk and safety | What was screened, what was found, any action taken |
| Relational themes | Where the client's pattern appeared this week, and how it showed up in the session |
| Interventions | Name each one in plain words (see the interventions list) |
| Client response | What the client did with each intervention |
| Progress toward goals | Goal numbers from the treatment plan; scores on any measures |
| Plan | Focus for the next session, referrals or coordination, next appointment |
| Signature | Name, license or registration, date |
SOAP version
| Section | What to record |
|---|---|
| S: Subjective | The client's report: the week, symptoms, relational episodes and any statements about risk, in the client's words where possible. |
| O: Objective | What you observed: appearance, affect and its shifts, engagement, how the client related to you, scores on any measures. |
| A: Assessment | Your clinical understanding: how today's material fits the formulation, progress toward goals and the current level of risk. |
| P: Plan | Next steps: the focus and interventions to continue, referrals, coordination and the next appointment. |
Keep verbatim dialogue and your private associations out of the progress note; they belong in process notes. Write as though the client, or another clinician, may one day read the note.
What Does a Completed Psychodynamic Progress Note Look Like?
Both examples record the same 50-minute session with Elena, an invented client in weekly treatment for depression. The first uses the narrative template and the second the SOAP version. Her case formulation and treatment plan are in the toolkit, and the process notes example records a few minutes of this same session for supervision, so you can compare what belongs in each.
Narrative progress note
| Item | Example entry |
|---|---|
| Client, date and session number | Elena R. (invented); November 3, 2026; session 6 of a planned 20 |
| Start and end time; in person or telehealth; who attended | 4:00 to 4:50 p.m.; in person; client alone |
| Focus of the session | "I said yes to another committee and then cried in the car." |
| Observations | Arrived early and apologized for it. Well groomed. Affect constricted at first, tearful midway, brighter by the end. Engaged and reflective. |
| Risk and safety | Screened. Denies suicidal ideation, intent or plan; no self-harm. No change since intake; no action needed. |
| Relational themes | Agreed to an extra committee at work and to planning a family dinner at home without stating her limits. In session, moved quickly past sadness ("it's fine") and wondered whether she was wasting the therapist's time. |
| Interventions | Explored the department meeting step by step, including what she wanted and expected (therapeutic inquiry). Invited her to stay with the tightness in her throat and the sadness that followed (deepening emotional experience). Named the move to "it's fine" as a way of leaving the sadness and explored what it protects her from (working with defenses). Commented on her worry that she was wasting the session (process comment) and tentatively linked it to her expectations at work and with her mother (transference interpretation). Asked what she imagines would have happened had she declined the committee (exploring fantasy). |
| Client response | Tearful when she said she wanted to be asked "if I had room." Laughed and minimized, then returned to the feeling when invited. Agreed that she expected the therapist to find her problems small and said, "I do that everywhere." Imagined the chair's face "going cold," and also imagined the chair saying, "Of course, I didn't realize." |
| Progress toward goals | PHQ-9 of 12 at session 4 (14 at intake). Sleeping about six hours (five at intake). Objective 2a observed: identified a point in the episode where she set aside a wish. |
| Plan | Continue weekly sessions. Track moments when she sets aside a wish; welcome disagreement with the therapist when it appears. PHQ-9 at session 8. Next session November 10, 2026, 4:00 p.m. |
| Signature | [Clinician name, license type and number], November 3, 2026 |
SOAP note
| Section | Example entry |
|---|---|
| S: Subjective | "I said yes to another committee and then cried in the car." Agreed at a department meeting to join a committee and take minutes, and at home to plan a family dinner. Sleeping about six hours. Denies suicidal ideation, intent or plan. |
| O: Objective | Arrived early and apologized. Affect constricted, then tearful while describing the meeting; laughed and changed the subject, then returned to the feeling when invited. Reflective and engaged throughout. PHQ-9 of 12 at session 4 (14 at intake). |
| A: Assessment | Material fits the formulation: she sets aside her wishes and gives more, expecting others to feel burdened, then criticizes herself. The same expectation appeared with the therapist ("I don't want to waste our time on this"). She named the pattern across settings herself for the first time. Mood and sleep improving. Risk low. |
| P: Plan | Continue weekly time-limited dynamic psychotherapy. Track moments of setting aside a wish; welcome disagreement with the therapist; explore anger at being taken for granted as it emerges. PHQ-9 at session 8. Next session November 10, 2026. |
What Goes in a Psychodynamic Progress Note?
A progress note documents the care a client received. Whatever the orientation, it has to show what the session addressed, what the clinician did, how the client responded, whether the client is safe, how treatment is progressing and what happens next. A psychodynamic note adds the clinical reasoning that drives the work: where the client's relational pattern appeared, in the client's week and with the therapist, and which interventions addressed it.
What the note leaves out matters as much. A progress note does not need a transcript, the therapist's free associations, or speculation about unconscious meaning that the session did not use. Those belong in process notes or in supervision. Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, notes kept in the record, including SOAP notes, generally fall within the client's right of access, while psychotherapy notes kept separately from the record do not (45 CFR 164.524(a)(1)(i)). Write the progress note so that the client could read it and recognize the session.
How Do You Document Psychodynamic Interventions?
Start with a verb, name what the intervention addressed, and say what the client did next. "Explored the department meeting step by step, including what she wanted and expected" describes therapeutic inquiry in a way any reader understands. "Tentatively linked her worry about wasting the session to her expectations at work and with her mother" describes a transference interpretation and shows its purpose. The technical term can follow in parentheses, as in the example, for readers who use it.
The psychodynamic interventions list gives note-ready wording for eight core skills, from therapeutic inquiry to exploring fantasy, and for further interventions such as clarification, confrontation and rupture repair. Each of the eight skills has a free webinar, with live demonstration, on the psychodynamic deliberate practice page.
Should You Use SOAP or a Narrative Note?
Use the format your agency, payer or training site requires. SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment, plan) is common in medical and agency settings, and DAP (data, assessment, plan) folds the first two sections together. The narrative template above covers the same ground with a separate row for relational themes, which some psychodynamic clinicians find easier to keep current. Whichever you use, the assessment section is where the formulation earns its place: a sentence on how the session's material fits the client's pattern, and what changed.
Keep reading
Psychodynamic Interventions List, note-ready wording for eight core skills and more
Psychotherapy Process Notes Template, how process notes differ from progress notes and from HIPAA psychotherapy notes, with an example from the same session
Psychodynamic Treatment Plan Examples, the goals and objectives a progress note reports against
Clinical Supervision Notes Template, the supervisor's record of reviewing progress and process notes
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a psychodynamic progress note include?
The date and session details, the client's focus, your observations, risk and safety, the relational themes of the session, the interventions you used, how the client responded, progress toward treatment goals and the plan for the next session.
How do you write a psychodynamic SOAP note?
Put the client's report in S, your observations of affect, engagement and the way the client related to you in O, your understanding of how the session fits the formulation and how treatment is progressing in A, and the next steps in P.
Should transference and countertransference go in a progress note?
Record the clinical use: for example, that you explored the client's expectation that you would find their problems small. Your own reactions in detail, and verbatim exchanges, belong in process notes or supervision rather than in the record.
Can clients read their progress notes?
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, clients of covered providers generally have a right to inspect and copy records kept in the designated record set, which includes progress notes. Psychotherapy notes kept separately from the record are excepted from that right, and state law can give clients more access than HIPAA does.
References
Access of individuals to protected health information, 45 C.F.R. § 164.524. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.524
Definitions, 45 C.F.R. § 164.501. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-45/subtitle-A/subchapter-C/part-164/subpart-E/section-164.501
Levenson, H. (2026). Brief dynamic therapy (3rd ed.). American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1-4338-4478-2. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/brief-dynamic-therapy-third-edition
Levenson, H., Gay, V., & Binder, J. L. (2023). Deliberate practice in psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1-4338-3673-2. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000351-000
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). What personal health information do individuals have a right under HIPAA to access from their health care providers and health plans? Retrieved November 9, 2026, from https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/what-personal-health-information-do-individuals/index.html
