Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy

03/21/2026

Why depend on people when I can rely on AI?

"Increasingly, I see patients who expect perfect attunement, wise answers nonstop, extended availability, referring to how AI offers them these components. As if there is no friction, disappointment, or misunderstandings in real life.
How do you see this development, and how would you respond to such patients?" Thanks to one of our community members for sharing this question!

Of course, all of us wish for perfect attunement and understanding from imperfect humans.
But since we are human, flawed, and with limited knowledge, none of us can be the perfect fantasy others wish we could be.

No wonder we wish for an AI realization of our universal fantasy world where there is no friction, no disappointment, and no misunderstanding. For living in the real world with real events and real people, we will always encounter the friction of different desires, thoughts or feelings in others. Others will never be the same as our fantasies, so our fantasies will be disappointed (though we often think instead the other person disappointed us). And because your inner world is known and felt only by you, it is impossible for any person to know exactly what it is like to be you. Thus, our understandings of one another can only be partial.

Babies learn to bear this difference between fantasy and reality as children or as adults, but some of us never learn, always seeking that fantasy. Some claim that through meditation or some other practice that they have become the ideal. Others try to manipulate others into becoming the "ideal" partner. Then, supposedly, having found an emotional clone, no disappointment or friction would occur.

Now, some hope that, finally, at last, the fantasy emotional clone has been found in AI. So the question is this: does AI offer perfect attunement and perfect wisdom?
More importantly, can AI love a baby into being? Can AI love you?
What does a human's love offer you that the simulation of love by software cannot? Can a machine feel you, or is that something only a person can do? Does that matter to you? Does AI understand you and feel you, or is it just good at analyzing language based on being a Large Language Model? Does that matter to you? If not, why not?

Jon Frederickson, MSW
Author, Co-Creating Change: effective dynamic therapy techniques
The Lies We Tell Ourselves: how to face the truth, accept yourself, and create a better life, Co-Creating Safety: Healing the Fragile Patient
Psychotherapy videos and skill building exercises at:

Through education and training, The Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Institute prepares therapists to practice ISTDP in a clinical setting.

03/19/2026

Why don't I feel better?

Sometimes clients say they feel good during the session, but afterward, their problems return, and they feel hopeless. As a result, they have difficulty trusting the process of therapy. Even though previous therapy tools/tips were only temporary band-aids, it was still soothing to have something concrete to work on in between sessions. So, when they're working in a more open-ended way, they sometimes feel lost and hopeless. A couple of clients have said that if not every session feels good, they doubt the process and feel hopeless. And some clients appreciate their insights from the work but want actionable steps to use that insight. Otherwise, they see the insight as useless. How do you conceptualize this in ISTDP?

What causes symptoms and problems? Defenses. So if symptoms returned after the session, defenses returned. Why? Feelings were triggered after the session. So the return of problems is a great opportunity to inquire. When did the symptoms return? What was the triggering relational event?

The patient may distrust the therapy, thinking the therapy is causing their problems. The problem is that they are trusting the defenses that cause their defenses. If they don't see the defenses and how they cause the problems, naturally, they will assume therapy is the problem. Instead, we must help the patient see the sequence of causality: a relational event triggers feelings, feelings trigger anxiety, anxiety triggers defenses, and defenses cause symptoms and presenting problems. Unless that causality is clear and EXPERIENCED in the therapy room, the patient will mistakenly think therapy is the cause, or the patient may have a cognitive insight but without an emotional insight. And then, no change occurs.

The patient wants something to work on. Wonderful! A big sign of motivation! Here are some options: "So this week, whenever you have critical thoughts or are feeling depressed, ask yourself this question: "If this anger were not going onto me, where would it go instead?" "Whenever you feel really anxious this week, ask yourself, "What happened with a person just now that would have triggered these feelings and anxiety?" "Whenever you are tempted to provoke your wife to be angry, ask yourself, "What am I feeling guilty about that is making me want her to punish me?"

You see, any therapeutic focus in the therapy room is something the patient can continue to work on during the week, if you give them the right questions to continue their self-inquiry. Remember that one goal of therapy is teaching patients how to continue their own self-analysis after therapy.

Now for actionable steps. The patient wants to know how they can do the opposite of their defenses that cause their problems. "We have seen how asserting yourself with your boss makes you anxious, and to deal with that anxiety, you do whatever he wants even though those fall outside your job description. So the next time, he asks you to rub his back, what would be the opposite of saying yes to his request?" She will, say, "No." Then you might say, "So this week, how would you like to practice saying no to him instead of yes?"

Remember: an actionable step for the patient is doing the opposite of her previous defense. And you ask her what step SHE would like to take to avoid being another boss to whom she would submit!

The patient says that insights are useless unless they lead to action. The patient is right! We come to therapy to change, not to continue suffering from our defenses. So join her! "Of course, an insight by itself doesn't help you. Based on what you have learned today, what is causing your problems? If you face what makes you anxious this week, how might you do the opposite of your previous avoidance strategies?"

03/01/2026

A quote from Diane Ackerman.
I hoped that when readers closed the book they would feel a blend of rapture and responsibility — the sense that our little lives and the vast lives of other worlds are made of the same dust, bound by the same laws, and therefore implicated in one another’s fate. I hoped for a lingering awareness that the “cosmic” is not elsewhere: the calcium in our bones, the iron in our blood, the mold on bread, the storms on Jupiter, and the quiet in deep space are all chapters of a single ancestral story, and once you feel that kinship it becomes harder to treat other lives or other landscapes as expendable scenery.

I also hoped readers might feel a bridge between awe and stewardship: the knowledge that we are latecomers in an ancient universe who nonetheless possess a frightening and beautiful power to scar or to shelter the only world (at the moment) we know to be alive. I wanted that double sensation to persist—a childlike wonder before the everythingness of everything, and braided through it, the mature realization that wonder alone is not enough, that love of the cosmos must express itself as care for this particular planet, with all its ordinary (though often overlooked) natural miracles.

02/24/2026

Supervision Group — Emotional Integration of Patient and Therapist With Jon Frederickson & Yuval Alon

Two groups : basic before - during core training and advanced therapists teachers group

THURSDAY GROUP For therapists before or during core training 🕘 9:00 AM EST · 3:00 PM CET

This group is for you if you have not yet completed — or are currently in — your core training. It is a place to develop your clinical presence from the inside out, while you are still building your foundations.

We work with real cases to explore what happens when a patient's past enters the room, and what your own reactions as a therapist are telling you. You will learn to use yourself as a therapeutic tool, build a working alliance, and become the kind of therapist whose patients feel less alone.

What happens each session (1 hr 50 min): · 20 min — Thematic learning with Yuval. Yuval introduces a theme drawn directly from the cases brought for supervision that session, grounding the learning in what is alive in the room. · 60 min — Live supervision with Jon. A therapist brings a case. Jon works with the therapist to explore the dynamics: the patient's history, the therapeutic relationship, the therapist's reactions, and how to move forward. · 30 min — Group discussion with Jon. The group reflects on the themes that emerged and on what each therapist is taking from the session.

📩 After every session: a written summary + full video recording sent to you.

Dates: Feb 26 · Mar 5, 12 · Apr 10, 17, 30 · May 14, 28 · Jun 4, 11, 18, 25 Fee: $600 USD Lower fees available for therapists from Iran or other lower-income countries — contact us directly.

payment : paypal - jf1844@gmail.com - copy to : a,yuval7@gmail.com

FRIDAY GROUP For therapists who have completed core training · and for teachers 🕘 9:00 AM EST · 3:00 PM CET

This group is for you if you have completed your core training — and for therapists who teach. Knowing something and living it are different things. This group works in that space.

The focus is emotional integration: bringing together what you know intellectually and what you carry as a person and as a clinician. For teachers, this group develops the skills to help your students not just understand the work, but feel it.

What happens each session (1 hr 50 min): · 20 min — Thematic learning with Yuval. Yuval introduces a theme drawn directly from the cases brought for supervision that session, grounding the learning in what is alive in the room. · 60 min — Live supervision with Jon. A therapist brings a case. Jon works with the therapist to explore the dynamics: the patient's history, the therapeutic relationship, the therapist's reactions, and how to move forward. · 30 min — Group discussion with Jon. The group reflects on the themes that emerged and on what each therapist is taking from the session.

📩 After every session: a written summary + full video recording sent to you.

Dates: Feb 27 · Mar 6, 13, 20 · Apr 10, 17, 30 · May 14, 28 · Jun 5, 12, 19, 26 Fee: $980 USD Lower fees available for therapists from Iran or other lower-income countries — contact us directly.

payment : paypal - jf1844@gmail.com - copy to : a,yuval7@gmail.com

We would love to have you with us. Questions or registration: a.yuval7@gmail.com

Jon and Yuval

02/17/2026

"The “Thou” is not a thing to be analyzed but a partner to be addressed. Language that turns the Thou into an “It” (e.g., objectifying, purely theoretical speech) has stepped out of the dialogical sphere." Ferdinand Ebner

02/14/2026

Feelings Triggered by Political Events

"I assume you are aware of the situation in my country. I am working with clients who have war-related anxiety, are grieving, and at the same time feel intense anger toward the government.
I know that attention and empathy are helpful for anxiety. But regarding anger toward the government, should this anger be explored? How?
Could this anger be related to rage impulses toward their parents? How should I address my clients’ guilt about those who were killed and their question of why they survived?" Thanks to one of our community members for sharing this question!

Of course, people feel angry toward the government. This is not irrational or neurotic anger. It is a healthy response to injustice. It should not be reduced to a psychological category for analysis; it is a realistic response to be validated.

Of course, you will validate the anger as a sign of health: opposition to injustice. Of course, your patients feel grief: that is a healthy response to the death and injuries of loved ones who were abused by the government.

If they feel anxious, you can notice that something about feeling justified anger makes them anxious. Then you can ask: "Given that your anger is justified, do you have any sense of what feels risky about having this feeling here with me? Then you might discover that they are afraid you would judge their anger rather than validate it. This is a common fear when people live in a totalitarian government or in a country that is descending into fascism. Those who feel angry with the government are often threatened by the government or by attackers on social media. Again, you help them see the underlying fear people experience under fascism: rule by force.

As for guilt, you can point out that no one knows why you lived and others did not. That is a form of rumination that functions as a defense. However, we DO know why they died: government officials killed them. And we DO know who should feel guilty: the government forces. Then you can ask, "Should you borrow their guilt, or should we remember that this is THEIR guilt to bear?"

Authoritarian governments always deny their guilt and justify their violence. One way they do this is to claim that THEY should feel no guilt: supposedly, their violence is justified. Instead, they claim the dead and injured should feel guilt. Just as a psychopath will use projective identification to make the victim feel the guilt for the crime done to the victim, authoritarian regimes do the same.

Then we see rationalizations to justify hatred and violence. And those rationalizations even become another form of violence, designed to attack citizens' perception of reality. Thus, if authoritarians' rationalizations can distort citizens' ability to perceive reality, they can no longer think about it. And that inability to think guarantees the future of the authoritarian government.

This is why Erich Fromm said that insofar as the therapist helps patients see the lies of any culture or government, the therapist is inherently engaging in a revolutionary act.

01/16/2026

Healing Through Relating is now available in German!!! Thanks to Pierre Alain Emenegger, Ulrike Bartsch, Eik Niederlohman, and Katrin Dumalin-Kleisov for all their work to make this possible. I'm so grateful to all of you for making this deliberate practice skill-building book available!!!

01/02/2026

Denial of Death

A great book, but also a constant in human affairs. Today, we see this dynamic at work when aging dictators are suffering from illnesses. And these illnesses begin to erode their manic denial and omnipotence. It turns out that they are dying, will die, and will be forgotten in the mists of time.

To avoid this, they seek to appear larger than life. They try to leave a mark through grandiose architecture. (Look up totalitarian architecture.) Or they make a mark by destroying beautiful architecture, as if they are the great destroyer rather than facing the great destroyer, death. Or they make grandiose claims of fantasy accomplishments to avoid facing their real losses. And they try to eternalize their rule through voter restriction, taking voters off the rolls, or even extending votership to people outside of their country (Orban). Or they seek extreme wealth as if dollars will prevent dying. Or they invade other countries as a way to externalize how death is invading them or to reclaim a historical loss and, thereby, undo a symbolic death (Putin). I'm sure you can think of many parallels.

They often rationalize killing others so that they can "become death" rather than suffer the anxiety of dying. They make a great show of their health while their bodies tell the truth. And others lie to these leaders as well because the leaders are the conductors of these gravy trains. But death is stalking these leaders nonetheless. And while we wait for them to die, so many people and countries will suffer because of their denial.

Send a message to learn more

12/26/2025

The struggle against diversity is rarely a fight for truth, but rather a fight for power: whose truth will prevail, whose truth will be deemed truer. Thus, it is a defense against recognizing that any opinion we hold about others is a just a map, not the territory. Terrified to realize that we never can grasp the totality of another person, we become epistemological conquistadors: "I know exactly who you are. You are the same as my idea." Or, "I know exactly how the world is." How humbling to learn that another person does not fit our concept. Yet, every day we experience how we do not fit someone else's concept of us.

Send a message to learn more

12/21/2025

A reminder in these times.

“All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn’t that the evil thing wins — it never will — but that it doesn’t die.” John Steinbeck

Send a message to learn more

12/18/2025

Give the therapist in your life the perfect present for Christmas! Or maybe give yourself the perfect Christmas present, if you're a therapist:-)

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

10/09/2025

Supervision as a Change Experience

Jon Frederickson
MSW

Date and Time:
November 28, 2025
9 am to 3.15 pm PST

Location: Online (Zoom)

Course Objectives:

How to discern what the student needs to learn
How to assess a problem that interferes with learning
How to assess what the student is integrating and not integrating
Cost: $300 (CAD)

We regret that we are unable to offer Continuing Education credits for this workshop.

Register
We enter supervision to learn how to become better therapists. Yet research shows that 93% of supervision is inadequate, and supervision on average accounts for only 1% of patient outcome. Why is supervision so often unhelpful? What needs to change in supervision? How can supervision facilitate the change that supervisees seek?

This presentation will review a new model of psychotherapy supervision that integrates the latest research on learning, education, and metacognition. And we will analyze a video of a supervision session illustrating this integrative model. By doing so, we will learn how to assess what the student needs to learn, the problems he has learning, and how to assess what the student is integrating and not integrating moment by moment.

We often mistakenly believe that we need to teach the student. But that is the easy part. The hard part is assessing what the student is understanding and not understanding. We have to assess what the student is integrating and not integrating to help the student integrate new information.

Further, when students take in new information, old knowledge must disintegrate to integrate that new information. While this positive disintegration allows integration, the disintegration of old knowledge triggers much anxiety and distress in the student. Only by paying attention to the student’s emotional experience of new learning can we help the student manage this inevitable process of disintegration of old knowledge and integration of new information.

Through studying a video of supervision, we will see how to help supervisees with emotional problems interfering with their therapy without turning supervision into therapy. We practice forms of therapy that are experiential, where we help patients face the feelings and conflicts they usually avoid. This requires the therapist to face her own feelings and conflicts that the act of doing therapy evokes. Thus, the supervisor, to be optimally helpful, must help the student with her path of emotional growth and integration. This video of a supervision session will illustrate one way to do that.

If you have questions about this workshop, please email Zach at zach.aletheaservices@gmail.com

A smiling man with a beard is seated, wearing a maroon shirt and a patterned tie, in front of a bookshelf filled with books.
Jon Frederickson, MSW, is on the faculty of the Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) Training Program at the Washington School of Psychiatry. Jon has provided ISTDP training in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Switzerland, India, Iran, Australia, Canada, the U.S., and the Netherlands.

His most recent book (2024) is Clinical Thinking in Psychotherapy: What It Is, How It Works, and Why and How to Teach It.

He is also the author of over fifty published papers or book chapters and four books, Co-Creating Change: Effective Dynamic Therapy Techniques, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Learning to Listen from Multiple Perspectives, The Lies We Tell Ourselves, and Co-Creating Safety: healing the fragile patient, Healing Through Relating, and Clinical Thinking in Psychotherapy: how to do it, why to do it, and how to teach it. His book, Co-Creating Change, won the first prize in psychiatry in 2014 at the British Medical Association Book Awards, and it has been published in Farsi, Polish, Hebrew, and Slovak, and is currently being translated into Spanish. His book The Lies We Tell Ourselves has been published in Polish, Farsi, Norwegian, German, and Danish and is currently being translated into Chinese, Arabic, and Bulgarian.

He has DVDs of actual sessions with patients who previously failed in therapy at his websites www.istdpinstitute.com and www.deliberatepracticeinpsychotherapy.com There you will also find skill-building exercises designed for therapists. He writes posts on ISTDP at www.facebook.com/DynamicPsychotherapy.

Contact
806 525 Seymour Street
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Y6
(604) 366-3112

Home On this website, we offer a series of skill-building exercise programs designed to help therapists of all orientations. As a therapist, how often are you setting time aside to develop your skills, analyze your video transcripts, watch your videotaped sessions, or going to supervision? Did you k...