Navigating Syntonic Resistance with ISTDP

Beginning in January 2026, this monthly 6-part online course will focus on the use of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) for working with clients who present with high levels of habitual, chronic avoidance of their emotions. The process of unconscious avoidance of emotions creates a vulnerability to experiencing reoccurring problems such as symptoms of anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms, trauma, eating or body image, and relationship difficulties. During psychotherapy sessions, when the rise of emotions becomes a trigger for a client to become experientially avoidant, awareness and understanding of their feelings becomes more limited, and it prevents the client and therapist from working effectively together. Clients with syntonic defences identify with these avoidant behaviours to the extent they see them as part of their self-image and a form of helpful coping. The temporary relief a client experiences from avoiding anxiety-provoking emotional states is followed by long-term suffering unless these cycles can be transformed with new ways of coping. In this course, we will study the unfolding processes whereby resistances emerge in-session, and the client and therapist adjust and pivot to overcome these challenges. We will also review how a treatment plan is developed in the session based upon in-session phases of inquiry, psychodiagnosis, and mobilization of the unconscious.

Time and dates

These 3-hour sessions will start at 9am Pacific Time; 12:00pm Eastern Time; 5:00pm GMT, on the following Wednesdays in 2026: January 7^th, February 4^th, March 4^th, April 1^st, May 6^th, June 3^rd .

Participants

To protect patient confidentiality, all participants will be asked to sign a condition of admittance and need to be registered mental healthcare professionals or students registered in university clinical programs. Email info@dynamichealthservices.ca with inquiries.