Method
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy
ISTDP works with the feelings you keep at a distance — and with what you do to keep them there.
The core idea
We all carry feelings that were once too much: anger toward someone we also loved, grief there was no room for, longing that went unanswered. To keep functioning, we learn to shut them out — by shrugging, by intellectualising, by being agreeable, by minimising.
It works. The cost is that the feelings do not disappear. They surface as anxiety, as physical symptoms, as depression, or as patterns that damage our relationships.
ISTDP works on three things at once: the feeling, the anxiety triggered as it approaches, and the defence holding both at bay.
What makes it different
- We watch the body. Anxiety has a signature — tense hands, sighing, a churning stomach, a blank mind. It tells us how close we are and when to slow down.
- We work in the present. Not accounts of the week that passed, but what is happening between us right now.
- We point at the defences. Kindly, but directly. It is not a criticism — it is the entire point.
- It is short-term therapy. Not always short, but always focused.
What it suits
Anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms without physical explanation, low self-esteem, personality difficulties, and — with adaptation — severe and complex PTSD.
There is no waiting list to join first
Book directly in the calendar, or call if you would rather speak to a person.