How to Coach Yourself and Others Techniques For Coaching | Page 537

3.56 HEAD ON COLLISION
A client has pent-up emotion buried under denial, rationalization
and minimizing. "Hey, no one had a perfect childhood, it's no big
deal," he says, "it is what it is." What happens next? If his
therapist was trained in ISTDP, the client better make sure his
seatbelt is fastened.
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) was
developed in the 1960's by Dr. Habib Davanloo, a psychiatrist
who agreed with the basic tenets of psychoanalysis but became
frustrated with the length of time it required. He developed a
modality where the therapist becomes a much more active agent
of change and where resistance is handled directly and firmly. He
believed that when people push through the resistance and
experience true, intense emotion about the past and present,
psychological
symptoms
diminish
and
interpersonal
relationships improve.
The therapist, who knows how to spot a defense when she sees
one, jumps in and confronts the client with his resistance, points
out consequences of remaining defended (which may include
lost time, money and relationships) and presents him with a
choice.
Here's an example of a Head-On Collision, one that could be
applied to the client at the beginning of the article:
Let's take a look at what's happening here. You have come on
your own free will, because you are experiencing a problem
which causes you pain. We have set out to get to the root of
your difficulties, but every time we attempt to move toward it,
you put up this massive wall. The wall keeps me out, and it
keeps you from knowing your own true feelings. If you keep
me out, you keep me useless. Is that what you want? Because,
as you see, you are certainly capable of keeping me useless to
you. My first question is, why would you want me to be
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