Submitted 3 June 2014 Accepted 7 August 2014 Published 28 August 2014 Corresponding author Robert Johansson, robert.johansson@liu.se Academic editor Ellen Hodnett Additional Information and Declarations can be found on page 17 DOI 10.7717/peerj.548 Copyright 2014 Johansson et al. Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 OPEN ACCESS Davanloo’s Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy in a tertiar psychotherapy service: overall effectiveness and association betw unlocking the unconscious and out Robert Johansson 1,2 , Joel M. Town 1 and Allan Abbass 1 1 Centre for Emotions and Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada 2 Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Link ¨ oping University, Link ¨ oping, Sweden ABSTRACT Background. Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), as dev by Habib Davanloo, is an intensive emotion-focused psychodynamic therapy an explicit focus on handling resistance in treatment. A core assumption in I that psychotherapeutic effects are dependent on in-session emotional proce the form of rise in complex transference feelings that occurs when treatmen tance is challenged. Recent research indicates that an unlocking of the unco a powerful emotional breakthrough achieved at a high rise in complex trans feelings, can potentially enhance ISTDP’s effectiveness. While ISTDP has a g evidence base, most of the research conducted has used small samples and therapy delivered by expert therapists. The aims of this study were to evalu overall effectiveness of ISTDP when delivered in a tertiary psychotherapy se to investigate if having an unlocking of the unconscious during therapy pred enhanced treatment effectiveness. Methods. A total of 412 patients were included in the analyses. The averag treatment was 10.2 sessions (SD 13.3). Multilevel growth curve modeling wa to evaluate treatment effectiveness and the association between unlocking conscious and outcome. A number of control predictors including type of tre resistance were selected and included in the analyses. Outcome measures w Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems About half of the patients in the study were treated by therapists in training other half by more experienced therapists. Results. Growth curve analyses using the full intention-to-treat sample rev significant within-group effects of ISTDP on both the BSI and the IIP. Effect s were large (>0.80). Unlocking the unconscious during therapy was associate significantly larger treatment outcome. The relationship was further modera type of treatment resistance. Conclusion. This study adds to the empirical base of Davanloo’s ISTDP with confirmed treatment effectiveness in a large-scale patient sample when IST was delivered by therapists with a range of experience. Furthermore, emotio How to cite this article Johansson et al. (2014), Davanloo’s Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy in a tertiary p service: overall effectiveness and association between unlocking the unconscious and outcome. PeerJ 2:e548; DOI 10.7