ISTDP (Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy) is a unique form of psychodynamic treatment that facilitates the rapid resolution of a broad spectrum of emotional disorders. It is an evidence-based psychotherapy that is strongly supported by current clinical research studies. ISTDP interventions are specifically designed to resolve anxiety, depression, somatization and personality disorders, as well as, to alleviate a variety of self-defeating behaviours, many of which derive from unstable or troubled early life attachments.
Philosophy of ISTDP
ISTDP has common roots with classical psychoanalysis aimed at treating patients with psychoneurosis (environmentally acquired mental illness). Both treatments focus on unconscious mental processes (perceptions, past events, feelings about events, and distorted beliefs) as the cause of neurotic disorders. What distinguishes practitioners of ISTDP is that we believe that psychological treatment should be both comprehensive and efficient to
- Remove symptoms
- Change character traits when necessary
Findings of clinical improvement confirmed by scientifically designed studies demonstrate that the above changes occur and that they are long lasting, and finally, that treated patients continue to improve even after termination.
To accomplish the above goals, the ISTDP therapist is an active advocate of change rather than a neutral observer as in traditional analysis. The attitude of the ISTDP therapist is that the patient’s time is irreplaceable and comprehensive change is possible in a reasonable, cost-effective time frame.
In ISTDP, experience of core emotion from the past is seen as the transformative vehicle and the therapist relies on non-interpretive techniques: encouragement to feel; challenge to take responsibility to change; and confrontation of resistance to change.