Initial consultation
A conversation about what brings you here, and a shared assessment of whether ISTDP is a good choice in this situation.
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Individual psychotherapy · Warsaw and online
ISTDP psychotherapyWorking with emotion, anxiety and defences here and now
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) focuses on what happens inside you during the conversation itself — on the emotions, the anxiety and the defences that mask them.
Led by Adam LigęzaPsychoterapeuta ISTDP · przewodnik psychodeliczny
Starting point
„Change does not begin with understanding the problem. It begins with feeling an emotion that for years it was easier to go around.”
What it actually is
ISTDP is a psychodynamic approach created by Habib Davanloo, built on the premise that many psychological difficulties — anxiety, depression, trouble in relationships, somatic symptoms — come from unconsciously avoiding feelings that were once too difficult to bear.
The therapist works with two maps: the triangle of conflict (impulse and emotion → anxiety → defence) and the triangle of person (a current relationship → past relationships → the therapeutic relationship). Rather than analysing the problem from a distance, the work happens live — in what appears in the body and in contact with the therapist at that moment.
It is a method with a solid research base, used among other things for anxiety disorders, depression, somatic symptoms and difficulty forming close relationships — but it is not a universal solution and its intensity does not suit everyone.
How it runs
From the first message to closing the process.
Working with the triangle of conflict
The therapist helps you notice the moment an emotion appears and what happens immediately afterwards — the anxiety, and the defence that suppresses it.
Contact here and now
Much of the work concerns the relationship with the therapist in the session itself — that is where recurring patterns show up fastest.
Regular reviews
A shared assessment of progress and a decision about the direction of further work, at a pace that fits the person.
Who it is for
Clear expectations before the first session.
People with anxiety and somatic symptoms
When tension and emotion are felt in the body more often than they are named out loud.
People with difficulty in relationships
When the same patterns recur in close relationships despite a change of surroundings.
People ready for intensive work
ISTDP requires consenting to direct, sometimes demanding emotional work in the real time of the session.
An important boundary
What this is not.
- ISTDP is not a quick technique or a one-off intervention — it is a psychotherapeutic process that requires regularity.
- It does not replace psychiatric treatment or pharmacotherapy where those are indicated.
- SACRUM Sp. z o.o. is not a medical entity — the therapy is delivered by a licensed psychotherapist within their own professional practice, under the confidentiality and ethical rules of the profession.
Next step
Led by Adam Ligęza
Before booking you can ask about the format, the scope and availability. We answer plainly — including when a different method would serve you better.