Deconstructing Davanloo
Deborah Pollack and Maury Joseph
Habib Davanloo was the developer of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), a type of short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy that has gained popularity in recent decades.Davanloo's work is bold, original, and compelling, yet often presented with a certainty that leaves little room for reflection or alternative viewpoints. Deconstructing Davanloo offers another path: reading his cases with space open for context, critique, and dialogue about multiple levels of meaning. By engaging his ideas thoughtfully, we aim to support the evolving, creative development of the ISTDP tradition.