A review of emotion regulation from the perspective of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy

Earlier studies have demonstrated that a considerable amount of people in various societies struggle with emotional problems such as immune system disorders, depression, anxiety, personality disorders and interpersonal issues. This article aims to clarify the importance of emotions in daily life and the field of psychotherapy. Given the importance of experience authenticity and expression in relationships and individuals’ lives, the triangles of person and conflict form the basis of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP). The triangle of conflict refers to the internal factors of problem such as emotion and defense while the triangle of person deals with the context and interpersonal factors. Restructuring of the triangle of conflict (the sequential course of emotion, anxiety and defense) within the triangle of person, particularly the patient-psychotherapist relationship during the therapeutic sessions, is the base of this therapy. This time, the patient’s repressed feelings to parents would consciously be experienced, processed and named in a therapeutic context and the process of experiencing emotions leads the defenses to be undone and the patients to be relieved from the self-made distress. The self-made distress is the result of a pathological conscience which is being fueled by the unconscious feeling of guilty of the patient and the tendency to victimhood and resistance. In this article, the effect mechanism of ISTDP in reducing the distressful symptoms of psychological and medical disorders are mentioned and it is attempted to broaden the horizons of psychologists and those interested in this new area of psychotherapy.