the centrality of a focus on conflict in ISTDP

ISTDP is based on the psychoanalytic concept of unconscious conflicts. Our goal is to identify and then intensify the conflicts responsible for the patient's symptoms and suffering so that they are motivated to relinquish their defenses and face their true feelings. The result is an opening into the unconscious, which reveals the source of the patient's difficulties. Too often therapist just focus on one aspect of the conflict - feeling, anxiety or defense - instead of all three. It's imperative to include both sides of the conflict in order to intensify it and get the kind of deep and lasting results we hope to obtain.