PSZICHOTERÁPIA
A professional journal of practice based on psychotherapeutic methods
A quarterly publication, 34rd year, issue 1, February 2025.
Table of contents
Editorial
Kepics Zsanett, Pál Krisztina
STUDIES
Methodological study
Dániel Péter Stoll, Katalin Tamás, Allan Abbass: The misunderstood acquaintance: Davanloo’s Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy –
history, metapsychology, evidence, technical approach and treatment characteristics
Theoretical study
Tamás Halmai: Finding the focus. The role of attention in the psychotherapeutic process, focused attention meditation and the state of flow
Pearls
László Tringer: The cognitive turn in healing the soul
WORKSHOP
Workshop presentation
Ferenc Blümel, Lone Bjørg Hansen: The Vordingborg model of gerontopsychiatry
Research report on the field of daily clinical practice
Workshop report
Barna Mária, Tiringer István: Account of the Psychotherapy journal’s 7th symposium
Contest
What I’ve learnt from my patient today – Noémi Adrien Pálkuti: Digital balance
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Back to school
Good riddance… the presentation of psychotherapy trainings in Hungary comes to an end – Zsanett Kepics, Krisztina Pál
Editorial statement
Debate
Does Hungary need a service provision network in psychotherapy, and if so, why is it not included in public funding? – Gergely Mészáros ♦ Éva Sifter
Ethical dilemmas of therapeutic practice 46th: Géczy Anna ♦ Tímea Kele ♦ Mária Tari
News
In memoriam: József Telkes – Mária Koltai
Awards
Reviews
Report on the Psychotherapy Council Association’s delegates’ meeting
Conferences – Gyöngyi Ajtay ♦ Katalin Csíki-Pusztay ♦ Attila Póth ♦ Zsanett Kepics
Book reviews – Zsuzsanna Benyus ♦ Gergely Biró ♦ Rebeka Erőss ♦ Kata Lovas ♦ István Tiringer ♦ István Tiringer ♦ Dániel Ványi
List of professional books and periodicals
Professional programs
Editorial announcements
STUDIES
METHODOLOGICAL STUDY
Dániel Péter Stoll, Katalin Tamás, Allan Abbass
The misunderstood acquaintance: Davanloo’s Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy –
history, metapsychology, evidence, technical approach and treatment characteristics
This article provides an introduction to Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), a psychodynamic approach developed by Habib Davanloo. ISTDP is an intensive, experiential, and emotion-focused brief therapy specifically designed to address resistance. One of the underlying assumptions of ISTDP is that psychotherapeutic effects depend on emotional processing within the session, leading to the development of complex transference feelings, the intensification and then weakening of resistances, and finally the unlocking of the unconscious.
This globally widespread and dynamically developing psychotherapeutic movement is also of interest to the Hungarian professional audience, as it represents a number of trans-theoretical, diagnostic and methodological elements that can be applied to other movements for effective treatment. The research environment surrounding the method, and thus the growing body of evidence on its effectiveness, confirms ISTDP’s efficacy in anxiety disorders, affective disorders, somatoform disorders and personality disorders. Some of the characteristics of the approach are the moment-to-moment activity of the therapist, immediate targeting and persistence of resistances, in vivo monitoring of the ego’s adaptive capacity and anxiety tolerance, facilitation of bodily experience of affect, video supervision, trial therapy sessions, etc.
Although there are several early papers available in Hungarian from Davanloo, there is a lack of concise and accessible descriptions of the approach that give an insight into the present state of the art. We hope that our paper will arouse the interest of the Hungarian professional audience, creating a fertile ground for methodological dissemination, training and domestic publications.
Keywords: Davanloo, ISTDP, resistance, emotional experiencing, anxiety tolerance
THEORETICAL STUDY
Tamás Halmai
Finding the focus. The role of attention in the psychotherapeutic process, focused attention meditation and the state of flow
The psychotherapeutic process, meditation as well as mindfulness-based methods all have a significant impact on attentional functioning. In the present study, I describe the two basic modes of attention (and cognitive processing in general). The first one is task-oriented, more or less objective, aimed towards stimuli from the external world. The second one, on the other hand, is primarily subjective, self-referential and plays a key role in mind-wandering. The two basic modes involve the activity of different neurological networks, most of all the Central Executive Network and the Default Mode Network. Focused attention meditation and flow-theory both emphasise experiencing sensations in the here-and-now. Similarly to the psychotherapeutic process, these methods can help clients/patients strengthen their attention and thereby gradually get outside of their intense and painful subjective experience. Meditation and mindfulness-based methods achieve this objective primarily through a sharpened focus on internal experience and the „cleansing” of sensations. These methods have also been shown to enhance a more flexible regulation of emotions as well as self-awareness. Flow-theory, on the other hand, turns to the outside world by encouraging clients to actively pursue joyful activities. In this state of flow, they can frequently experience their ego temporarily „disappearing” or „dissolving”. The present study discusses common as well as dissimilar elements of the psychotherapeutic process, meditation and flow, highlighting a common element: through changing the attentional functioning of the client/patient, they strengthen his/her cognitive control (in other words, their self). This makes them handle intense stimuli with greater efficiency and flexibility – whether they come from the external world or their subjective experience.
Keywords: attention – meditation – flow – cognitive control
PEARLS
László Tringer
The cognitive turn in healing the soul
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