Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy as a Method of Treatment for Patients with Somatization
Journal Title: Psychoterapia - Year 2015, Vol 174, Issue 3
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to present intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) as a type of therapy considered particularly useful when treating patients with somatization disorders. After a short presentation of the psychodynamic understanding of the phenomenon of somatization and the basic principles of ISTDP, the main diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and methods used when working with such patients are discussed. The patients are people who – similarly to patients suffering from depression – demonstrate high levels of unconscious anxiety and very high levels of resistance in transference at the same time, which requires a specific way of conduct. During the first stage of psychotherapy, a restructuring of ego defense mechanisms is done using the so called graded format (which constitutes in continuous monitoring of the patient’s anxiety level and alternating pressure on experiencing emotions by the patient and the so called cognitive analysis of what is happening during the session). Only in the second phase of psychotherapy, other ISTDP techniques are used (such as challenge and head-on collision) as a part of the central dynamic sequence, leading to the unblocking and processing of the feeling causing the anxiety, the repression of which contributed to the development of the symptoms.
Authors and Affiliations
Małgorzata Kuleta, Waldemar Krzyżkowiak
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP117537
- DOI 10.12740/PT/58994
- Views 77
- Downloads 0
Trauma więzi a psychoterapia pacjentów z diagnozą PTSD w oparciu o mentalizację.
Artykuł prezentuje rolę wczesno - dziecięcego urazu – traumy więzi – jako istotnego czynnika wpływającego na zdolność człowieka do nawiązywania i podtrzymywania satysfakcjonujących relacji, radzenia sobie ze stresem ora...
Sometimes the word heals and sometimes hurts — negative aspects of psychotherapy
The author discusses in the paper negative aspects of the process of psychotherapy and factors, which influence it, such as the kind of therapy, type of patients and therapists. The latter are divided into psychotic, psy...
What is truth?
The paper refers to the discussion on the influence of the postmodernism onto psychotherapy. We are looking at the notion of truth from the point of view of mathematical logic and we argue with the postmodern concept of...
[sup][/sup]Od masturbacyjnego obłędu do zdrowia seksualnego. Zmiany w postrzeganiu autoerotyzmu w dyskursie medycznym i terapii
W artykule przedstawione są zmiany w percepcji masturbacji w koncepcjach i praktyce medycznej i seksuologicznej. Omawiana literatura, obejmująca okres od XVIII wieku do współczesności, została dobrana ze względu na popul...
Letter