18 pages: the book is as thick as the file is long. Move the pointer over it to turn it.
Psychodynamic Quick Reference Guides
Thirteen one-page sheets for the moment between sessions
Quick reference sheets, 18 pages, PDF, instant download.
On Etsy it is listed as “Psychodynamic Therapist Cheat Sheets, 13 Quick Reference Guides, Defense Mechanisms, Transference, Countertransference, Attachment, PDF”. After payment the file is in your Etsy purchases, and Etsy emails you the download link.
Each page compresses a large literature into what I find myself reaching for between sessions: the demand behind the request, defenses, transference and countertransference, attachment strategies, ruptures, resistance, breaks and the frame. The sheets point rather than explain, and they are meant to be read after a difficult session or before supervision. Two templates, a one-page formulation and a session reflection note, turn a vague unease into material you can bring.
Abstract
Read the abstract
This set of thirteen one-page reference sheets is designed for the interval between sessions, when a clinician wants an orienting map rather than a full text. It opens with a sheet on reading the demand before the first session, drawing on the Italian tradition of the analysis of the demand (Carli and Paniccia), which treats what a client asks for as an emotional symbolization of the relationship they hope for. Further sheets summarize defenses ordered by level of maturity, principles for working with them, common transference patterns, countertransference read as information about the relationship, attachment strategies as they appear in session, rupture and repair, resistance reframed as something being protected, breaks and endings, and the frame. Two printable templates support a working formulation and a private process note, and a list of key references closes the set.
Who it's for
Psychodynamic and integrative therapists who want a quick orientation after a session or before supervision, and trainees reading their first process notes alongside the defense and transference tables.
Contents
- How to use the sheets
- 00 Reading the demand: before the first session
- 01 Defenses at a glance I: mature and neurotic
- 02 Defenses at a glance II: immature and primitive
- 03 Working with defenses
- 04 Transference patterns
- 05 Countertransference: feeling, meaning, move
- 06 Attachment strategies in the room
- 07 Rupture and repair
- 08 Resistance, reframed
- 09 Breaks and endings
- 10 The frame, and what crosses it
- 11 Template: a formulation on one page
- 12 Template: a session reflection note
- Key references and further reading
Format and license
- Format
- PDF, 18 pages
- Delivery
- Instant download from your Etsy account once payment clears
- License
- For one therapist's own clinical practice; worksheets may be printed for your clients
- Status
- Educational material for clinicians, not a validated instrument and not clinical advice
Sale prices belong to the shop's autumn opening offer, 30% off until November 10. Prices are in US dollars as shown on Etsy on October 22, 2026. Etsy shows the current price in your currency, and any tax, before you pay.
