Clinical and Research Issues in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, by Arnold Winston. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1985.
Reviewed by Jon Frederickson
This monograph contains collected articles by STDP practitioners.
Transference in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy by Harold Been and Isabel Sklar is one of the clearest papers ever written to illustrate the differences between psychoanalysis and short term dynamic psychotherapy in their understandings of, and approaches to, transference. They illustrate how the transference neurosis and regressive transferences are avoided in short term dynamic psychotherapy by the early, systematic analysis of characterological defenses and negative transference. Pathological Mourning in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy by A. Winston and V. Goldin describe the phases in changing pathological mourning into normal grief. Case examples illustrate the importance of deep affective experience of complex feelings for lost figures through the use of imagery.
The Impact of Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy by V. Goldin and A. Winston describes what happens to psychoanalytically oriented therapists who encounter stdp for the first time. Initially, therapists find the approach “aggressive” and “badgering”, but this impression fades over time as they see a number of interviews, see that the therapist is challenging defenses not the patient, and as they begin to see how the therapist will shift to a less challenging stance if there is any indication of patient fragility. Therapists learn to become more active and focused; they shift from analyzing the transference cognitively to helping the patient experience the transference emotionally in the here and now. They begin to thwart regression rather than foster it. In short, they found that exposure to stdp changed the ways therapists conducted their psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Research Issues in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapies: and Overview by M. Trujillo and L. McCullough summarizes the state of research into stdp in 1985 and describes a pilot project which was not completed at that time.
Book is out of print, but may be ordered through www.abebooks.com and other on-line used book stores.