This paper reviews the empirical research on short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STDP). It begins with a brief history of STDP, identifying current developers and researchers of STDP and listing commonalities among various short-term dynamic psychotherapies. In this review, research is grouped broadly into two categories: controlled comparative studies and uncontrolled naturalistic or correlational studies. The controlled studies are further divided into studies which compare STDP with no-treatment groups and studies which compare STDP with other treatments, notably with other forms of psychotherapy. A review of these studies concludes the STDP is superior to no treatment and is generally as effective as other psychotherapies. Findings from the naturalistic and correlational studies are categorized according to the percentage of patients that were helped, the patient characteristics which correlate with positive or negative outcomes (severity of psychopathology, separation and loss issues, motivation level, interpersonal relations, object relations, response to evaluation, ego strength and dystonia of symptoms), and the potential for negative effects with STDP. Several important conclusions are drawn from naturalistic and correlational studies. The paper concludes that STDP may be appropriate for a broader range of psychopathology than many current developers of STDP have suggested, and recommends completion of further controlled studies employing specific techniques of current developers and using therapists who are experienced with STDP. (Author/NB)