As much as 50 % of patients with depressive disorders do not experience desired gains with psychotherapy or psychotropic medications. As psychotherapists we often meet people who are stuck in hopelessness, passivity, or patterns of self-destructivness that can seem impossible to break. Trying to pull patients out of such a position, or being stuck with the primary responsibility for the end-result of the treatment, can take a toll on therapists and doctors.

So the question becomes: are there ways to approach these issues that can help patients find and activate the necessary resources within themselves?

There are a number of causes for the lack of effectiveness in the treatment of patients with depressive disorders. These patients often suffer comorbid anxiety disorders, personality- and character pathology, and severe relationship trauma, which contribute to the maintenance of the depressive problems and can block the effects of traditional forms of treatment. Many patients struggle with anxiety that lies far above their window of tolerance; others are locked up behind thick walls of defensive mechanisms keeping activation low and the patient out of the therapist’s reach. Clinicians working with a broad spectrum of patients seeking psychotherapy are in dire need of theoretical understanding and practical skills for handling these obstacles.

ISTDP (Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy) is an intensive, emotion focused psychotherapy, which in the treatment of depressive disorders also seeks to alleviate the comorbid conditions that may block the effectiveness of treatment. The principal focus in ISTDP is continuously directed toward unfolding processes that block the patients from moving towards dealing with their problems in a healthier fashion. Through an intervention system that both builds the working alliance and mobilizes the healthy aspects of the patients, patients are familiarized with their emotional conflicts, and gradually can free themselves of chronic, self defeating patterns.

ISTDP has a robust and steadily growing research basis demonstrating that it’s effective with anxiety-, depressive, and personality disorders. Controlled trials of the methods effectiveness for treatment resistant depression have been conducted both in Norway and abroad.

The immersion course will identify and provide a framework for understanding the various types of treatment resistant depression you can meet in your clinical practice, demonstrate the treatment processes aimed at getting to the roots of the emotional conflicts that lie at the heart of such depressions, and show you how to deal with the various resistances that can come into play in the course of treatment. The course offers rich video illustrations from psychotherapy clarifying the relationship between theory and practice.