Please complete this form to schedule your Introduction to ISTDP.
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) is a form of brief experiential dynamic psychotherapy. This approach is affect-focused, attachment-based and experiential, providing in-the-moment change for the client in each therapy session. Clients don’t just need a new insight; they need a new experience. ISTDP employs specific interventions to resolve the cause of client problems, instead of using a surface level focus on coping with symptoms. ISTDP pays exquisite attention to client unconscious interpersonal behaviors and emotional experiencing in the context of a collaborative therapy relationship. This creates near-experience immediacy and fertile ground for rapid client progress. ISTDP activates and mobilizes the unconscious attachment system to heal attachment wounds driving client symptoms. Rapid change can occur as a result. With a solid understanding that all client response and behavior is perfectly collaborating with the therapy (think resistance), the therapist can assist the client in understanding his own behavior and feelings in a new way. This helps him to turn against behaviors that hurt him and develop a deep and abiding self-compassion, making way for adaptive action. The scientific method is employed in session to guide each therapist intervention based on psychodiagnosis of patient response. Hypotheses are tested and client responses drive the therapy instead of therapist ideas of what the client should do driving sessions. This course will explore and demonstrate ISTDP-informed interventions that will help patients get to the bottom of what is driving their symptoms so that problems can be resolved.
The 1-hour introductory sessions are free and offer a CEU. They are scheduled in the EST time zone and are provided over Zoom. You can schedule a free introduction for your organization over Zoom or in-person. This is also recommended as a pre-requisite to prepare you for other courses but is not a requirement.
A full-day Introduction to ISTDP can be scheduled for your organization over Zoom or in-person. Please elect this option from the list, and our Program Coordinator, Reid Depowski-Knowles will contact you to schedule. Pricing is determined by the size and location of your group.
This course through Mindful ISTDP is approved by the NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative.
