Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
A free training resource from Sentio University for clinicians studying psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and time-limited dynamic psychotherapy.
Psychodynamic psychotherapy lives in moments that are hard to teach from a book. Tracking the transference as it shifts inside a five-minute exchange. Working with affect instead of around it. Formulating a brief case in real time. Deciding when to interpret and when to hold. Reading about these moves is not enough; performing them under the pressure of a live session is another thing entirely. Deliberate practice closes the gap by isolating each skill, rehearsing it under feedback, and building it into reflex. This page collects the free Sentio webinars and exercises that pair with the APA book by Hanna Levenson, Volney Gay, and Jeffrey L. Binder, plus structured material clinicians and supervisors can use in peer groups, supervision hours, or solo prep. If you are exploring graduate training, see the Sentio MFT Program, which integrates deliberate practice across the full curriculum.
What you will learn
This page is built around ten skill targets that supervisors and practice groups can rehearse:
- How to open an exploratory therapeutic inquiry
- How to make process comments without sounding clinical
- How to deepen emotional experience in session
- How to recognize and work with defenses
- How to notice and use countertransference responsibly
- How to deliver a transference interpretation in real time
- How to use metaphor as a psychodynamic intervention
- How to invite and work with patient fantasy material
- How to integrate these moves into a brief dynamic case formulation
- How to translate these skills into reproducible practice with a peer or supervisor
About the book
Levenson, Gay, and Binder distill psychodynamic technique into fourteen structured deliberate practice exercises: twelve targeting a single skill (therapeutic inquiry, deepening affect, working with defenses, transference interpretation, corrective emotional experience, and more) and two integrative exercises that fold the skills into a full session. The exercises were developed and refined inside the Sentio MFT program, the first hybrid MFT program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to fully integrate deliberate practice. Published by American Psychological Association, June 2023, 279 pages.
Watch the deliberate practice webinars
Ten free Sentio University webinars demonstrate the core psychodynamic skills the book teaches. Each runs roughly 60 to 90 minutes and shows live demonstration with feedback. Pair them with a supervisor, a peer practice partner, or the structured exercises in the book. The first two videos are overview webinars; the remaining eight are deep dives on individual skills.
How to use this material with peers and supervisors
The webinars above are most useful when paired with structured practice afterward. A two-session pattern works well. In the first, watch a recording with a peer or supervision group and stop at each demonstrated exercise to discuss how it would fit your current caseload. In the second, run one of the exercises live: one person plays the therapist, one plays the client, and a third observes and offers structured feedback against a specific behavioral target, such as "name the central interpersonal pattern in one sentence" or "deliver a transference interpretation within two minutes of the cue." Five to ten minutes of focused rehearsal followed by feedback produces more growth than thirty minutes of unstructured roleplay.
Doing this well as a supervisor is itself a skill. Reading about deliberate practice supervision is not enough; like any clinical skill, the method has to be practiced under feedback. Sentio runs a year-long Clinical Supervisor Training built around this principle for licensed supervisors who want to integrate deliberate practice into individual and group supervision.
Therapists in training, or anyone considering graduate work, can explore the Sentio MFT Program, where deliberate practice is integrated across every clinical course rather than offered as a single optional module. For the wider catalog of free clinical training videos, supervision tools, and AI resources, return to the Free Therapist Training hub.
Selected references
Levenson, H., Gay, V., and Binder, J. L. (2023). Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1433836732.
Strupp, H. H. and Binder, J. L. (1984). Psychotherapy in a New Key: A Guide to Time-Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465067473.
Levenson, H. (2017). Brief Dynamic Therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. ISBN 978-1433826078.
Rousmaniere, T., Goodyear, R. K., Miller, S. D., and Wampold, B. E. (Eds.). (2017). The Cycle of Excellence: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Supervision and Training. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1119165569.
Frequently asked questions
What is deliberate practice for psychodynamic psychotherapy?
Deliberate practice for psychodynamic psychotherapy is the structured rehearsal of specific clinical skills (therapeutic inquiry, affect tracking, transference interpretation, working with defenses) under feedback, rather than relying only on case discussion and clinical hours to develop those skills. Each skill is broken into a behaviorally defined target, rehearsed in short repetitive cycles, and refined with corrective input from a supervisor or peer.
Do I need to be a psychoanalyst to use these exercises?
No. The exercises are written to be useful across the full psychodynamic spectrum: brief dynamic therapy, time-limited dynamic psychotherapy, and longer-term psychoanalytic work. The foundational skills (formulation, affect, transference, alliance repair) apply across orientations. Trainees in any psychodynamic or psychoanalytic program, supervisors, and licensed clinicians can use them.
What does the book "Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy" cover?
The APA book by Hanna Levenson, Volney Gay, and Jeffrey L. Binder contains fourteen structured exercises: twelve focused on single skills (therapeutic inquiry, deepening affect, pointing out defenses, transference interpretation, providing a corrective emotional experience, and more) and two comprehensive integrative exercises. Each exercise has intermediate and advanced difficulty levels with step-by-step instructions for trainees and supervisors.
How is this different from psychodynamic supervision?
Traditional psychodynamic supervision is built around case discussion, parallel process, and the supervisor's interpretation of the therapist's clinical material. Deliberate practice is a complement: a supervisor pauses case-discussion mode and runs the supervisee through rehearsal of a specific skill until it is reliable. Sentio's Clinical Supervisor Training covers how to fold this kind of skill-building into a working supervision relationship without losing the relational and reflective work that defines psychodynamic supervision.
Where can I learn psychodynamic psychotherapy in a graduate program?
The Sentio MFT Program is a California-based online and hybrid Marriage and Family Therapy program that integrates deliberate practice across the curriculum, including dedicated coursework in psychodynamic psychotherapy and time-limited dynamic models. It is the first hybrid MFT program approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to fully integrate deliberate practice into its entire curriculum. For free resources outside the formal program, see the Free Therapist Training hub.