Intensive Psychotherapy
Treatment for depression and anxiety has only around a 50-70% success rate*. The reasons for this are varied. Often, a person has not learned to identify the patterns inside his or herself that give rise to symptoms of suffering. Those unexpressed feelings then manifest as depression and anxiety, as well as somatic symptoms like migraines and irritable bowel. What remains unconscious is therefore inaccessible and unchangeable. By identifying these patterns, we can work through and face the painful feelings that have remained previously buried under a network of protective armor- armor that shields but also keeps us alone and suffering. Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy (ISTDP) was designed to help people rapidly mobilize the healing forces inside them while neutralizing the barriers that suffocate your authentic self.
*Warden D, Rush AJ, Trivedi MH, Fava M, Wisniewski SR. The STAR*D Project results: a comprehensive review of findings. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2007
Common FAQ:
Why do you videotape our sessions?
Videotaping is for the purpose of review and is a critical part of effective therapy. This is a very technically challenging form of therapy with the express purpose of moving you forward as rapidly as possible; this requires regular review and occasionally, if stuck, review with a professional colleague. Their is no requirement to opt-in for video taping but it is recommended as it is for your benefit. Sessions are stored on an external hard-drive that is encrypted and never uploaded to anything else.
Will medications be a part of treatment?
While we do have the ability to prescribe medications, and occasionally do, the focus is on intensive psychotherapy. Medications can be lifesaving and make therapy more tolerable, however they can also interfere with the therapy process by numbing and blocking access to painful emotions that are at the heart of suffering.