About this Event
If you are curious about Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, and in particular how to make your work more effective with clients of all presentations, please come join Jonathan Entis, PhD, for a seminar live in Rome, Italy. This seminar is open to therapists from all backgrounds, including those who have no prior knowledge of ISTDP.
In the era of evidence-based medicine, despite great efforts, the health care system fails to help many depressed and anxious patients. A recurring research finding is that about two thirds of patients in psychiatric care and one third of patients in primary care get no relief from treatment, even when being offered the gold standard treatment alternatives currently available. From the perspective of ISTDP, much of this nonresponse is caused by unconscious and conscious resistance and dysregulated anxiety.
ISTDP was developed from the 1970s through the early 2000s by Habib Davanloo in Montreal, Canada. He invented a number of novel strategies aimed at reaching the most highly defended patients, the ones who at the time were considered impossible to treat. Spending a lot of time watching his own recordings of therapy sessions, he tested and refined specific strategies of helping his patients see, understand and let go of highly entrenched defenses, especially when those were linked to the patient’s identity (eg. highly syntonic). Later his work shifted to helping patients with fragile ego structure and overwhelming forms of anxiety.
Today, ISTDP is one of the most studied forms of psychodynamic psychotherapy, with 38 randomized controlled trials published thus far (81 if you include studies using the broader Experiential Dynamic Therapy term). ISTDP has empirical support for treating depressive disorders, somatic symptom disorders, personality disorders and anxiety disorders. ISTDP does well when compared to other treatments, and there is some evidence that ISTDP and similar models are more effective than comparison therapies in the treatment of functional somatic disorders (i.e. fibromyalgia, pain, IBS etc.)
In this conference, Jonathan Entis will introduce ISTDP and how it can be applied ot a broad range of patient presentations. He will use video from actual therapy sessions to showcase work on different aspects of managing resistance as well as building ego capacity within the ISTDP model. Emphasis will be put on the following aspects of resistance work:
– The conscious therapeutic alliance. Keeping the work transparent and explicit.
– Therapeutic flexibility. Calibrating interventions, timing and stances across the spectra from moderate resistance to severe fragility.
– The Pillars of Resistance. Identifying and confronting the resistance against feelings and impulses, against emotional closeness, against will and superego resistance.
– Mapping of the resistance. Systematically exploring, clarifying and exhausting resistance.
– Handling fragility. Feeding the alliance, managing projections and anxiety, and maintaining optimal pressure to defense.
During the seminar, the focus will be on watching videos from real cases.
BIO
Jonathan Entis
Jonathan Entis, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Rome, Italy. He maintains a practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts and New York. He is on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, where he for many years he has taught and supervised. He is an IEDTA-certified teacher in ISTDP and has presented both nationally and internationally. Jonathan leads a number of international training groups in Rome, Paris, and Copenhagen, and has lead groups in the past in Norway, Sweden, the US, and the Netherlands. He is a co-author with John Rathauser and Mikkel Reher-Langberg on the upcoming book, Fundamentals of Davanloo’s Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Volume I. You can contact him at [email protected]. you can read an interview with Jonathan. you can watch an interview with Jonathan on YouTube.
ATTENDANCE
The workshop is open to licensed healthcare professionals and therapists in good standing, as well as students within these fields.
DATE AND TIME
17 May, 2025 from 9am-5pm.
LOCATION
The event will take place at Via Salaria 292, 00199 Rome
TICKETS
COST
150 Euros
MORE INFO
If you have questions, please email Jonathan: [email protected]
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Via Salaria, 292, 292 Via Salaria, Roma, Italy
EUR 161.27
