REVIEW Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Outcome Research Allan Abbass, MD, Joel Town, DClinPsych, and Ellen Driessen, MSc Habib Davanloo has spent his career developing and teaching methods to accelerate dynamic psy- chotherapy, including his technique of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP). Over the past 20 years, outcome studies using this treatment have been conducted and published. We per- formed a systematic review of the literature to obtain studies presenting ISTDP outcome data. We found 21 studies (10 controlled, and 11 uncontrolled) reporting the effects of ISTDP in patients with mood, anxiety, personality, and somatic disorders. Using the random-effects model, we performed meta-analyses including 13 of these studies and found pre- to post-treatment effect sizes (Cohen’s d) ranging from 0.84 (interpersonal problems) to 1.51 (depression). Post-treatment to follow-up effect sizes suggested that these gains were maintained at follow-up. Based on post-treatment effect sizes, ISTDP was significantly more efficacious than control conditions (d = 1.18; general psychopathol- ogy measures). Study quality was highly variable, and there was significant heterogeneity in some analyses. Eight studies using various measures suggested ISTDP was cost-effective. Within limita- tions of study methodologies, this evidence supports the application of ISTDP across a broad range of populations. Further rigorous and targeted research into this method is warranted. (HARV REV PSYCHIATRY 2012;20:97–108.) Keywords: Davanloo, meta-analysis, psychodynamic, short-term psychotherapy From the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University (Drs. Abbass and Town); Centre for Emotions and Health, Dalhousie, Nova Scotia (Drs. Abbass and Town); Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU Uni- versity of Amsterdam (Ms. Driessen) Original manuscript received 15 April 2011; revised manuscript received 26 August 2011, accepted for publication subject to revision 30 November 2011; final manuscript received 9 December 2011. Correspondence: Allan Abbass, 8203-5909 Veterans Memorial Lane, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2E2, Canada. Email: Allan.Abbass@ cdha.nshealth.ca  c 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College DOI: 10.3109/10673229.2012.677347 INTRODUCTION Psychodynamic psychotherapy concerns itself with identi- fying and addressing unconscious emotions and processes that result in a broad range of symptoms (anxiety, depres- sion, and somatic) and character problems. By recognizing these processes and working through the emotions and con- tent, the patient can be freed of the effects of the past, be able to form relationships, and come to experience reduced symptoms. 1 Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapies have been de- veloped and researched over the past 40 years to allow more efficient psychodynamic treatment of greater numbers of pa- tients compared to longer-term psychoanalytic therapies. 2 These treatments have been extensively investigated, in- cluding about a dozen meta-analyses showing, in general, 97 Harv Rev Psychiatry Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by 148.122.12.94 on 04/18/12 For personal use only.