ISTDP Hub · Reading
Essential Reading
A short, curated list — for clients curious about the theory, people in therapy who want to go deeper, and anyone drawn to understanding what lies beneath the surface of human suffering.
For Clients and General Readers
Jon Frederickson · 2021
Lies We Tell Ourselves
The most accessible entry point into ISTDP thinking. Frederickson dismantles the stories we construct to avoid our feelings — the self-criticism, the self-deception, the habit of mistaking our defenses for our identity. Written for a general audience but clinically precise. If you are in ISTDP or considering it, read this first.
Stephen Grosz · 2013
The Examined Life
Not ISTDP-specific, but one of the most readable accounts of what happens in therapy — told through short, precise clinical vignettes. Grosz writes about the small moments in which people reveal what they cannot say directly. Particularly useful for people who are uncertain whether therapy is for them.
Sue Gerhardt · 2004
Why Love Matters
A neuroscience-informed account of how early attachment shapes the developing brain — and why emotional experience in infancy has lifelong consequences. Accessible, well-evidenced, and useful for understanding why the work we do in therapy has to go beyond insight.
Bessel van der Kolk · 2014
The Body Keeps the Score
The most widely read account of how trauma is stored in the body rather than in the verbal narrative — and why purely talking approaches frequently fail to reach it. Directly relevant to understanding the somatic focus of ISTDP. Readable for anyone with no clinical background, and often described by clients as the book that finally made their experience make sense.
Johann Hari · 2018
Lost Connections
A readable investigation into the social and relational roots of depression and anxiety — arguing that disconnection from meaningful relationships, work, and community is the primary driver, not brain chemistry alone. Useful for expats and anyone who has wondered why their symptoms persist despite medication or surface-level changes. Pairs well with the attachment and emotions pages in this hub.
For Therapists and Serious Students
Allan Abbass · 2015
Reaching Through Resistance
The clearest account of ISTDP technique available. Abbass — one of the world's leading ISTDP researchers and trainers — covers the model's clinical application, the research evidence, and specific techniques for working with anxiety and resistance. Includes case illustrations. Essential reading for anyone training in the approach.
Jon Frederickson · 2013
Co-Creating Change
The technical companion to Frederickson's later popular writing. Covers ISTDP interventions in depth — how to work with defense, how to follow and regulate anxiety, how to move toward core feelings without overwhelming the patient. Written for practitioners but understandable to informed readers.
Ten Have-de Labije & Neborsky · 2012
Mastering ISTDP: A Roadmap to the Unconscious
Advanced reading for practitioners. Ten Have-de Labije — with whom Piotr Szmyt trained — offers a detailed clinical account of working with complex and fragile patients in ISTDP. Particularly valuable for understanding the gradient from higher-resistance to lower-functioning presentations.
If you're deep in the reading, you're already doing preparatory work. When you're ready to take it into lived experience, ISTDP sessions are available online — from anywhere.
Book Online →Explore the ISTDP Hub
Each part of the ISTDP framework connects to the others. These pages take the next step.
Anxiety
Understand Your Anxiety Pathway
Anxiety in ISTDP is a signal, not a disorder. It always points toward something — a feeling that hasn't reached awareness yet. This page maps the three distinct ways anxiety discharges through the body, and includes an interactive tool to help you identify which pathway is most active for you.
Explore anxiety →Defenses
Recognise Your Defense Mechanisms
Defenses are intelligent strategies — built in childhood, still running in adulthood. They keep the anxiety manageable and the feelings at bay. But they come at a cost. This page explains the ten most common patterns and includes a self-reflection quiz to help you spot which ones dominate for you.
Explore defenses →Emotions
Why Feelings Matter — Core Emotions Wheel
Anxiety is always a response to a feeling that hasn't surfaced. But what exactly is a core feeling, and how do you distinguish it from a thought, a mood, or a narrative? This page introduces the primary emotional landscape, with an interactive wheel of core emotions and a plain explanation of why access to them — not just understanding — is what produces change.
Explore emotions →Attachment
Your Attachment Style and the Patterns It Created
The anxiety-defense pattern you carry today was built inside your earliest relationships. Depending on how caregivers responded to your feelings, you developed a characteristic way of managing closeness and emotional expression. This page explains the four attachment styles and includes a self-reflection tool to help identify which patterns feel familiar.
Explore attachment →Ready to Move From Reading to Experiencing?
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Psychological assessment, psychodiagnostics, and psychotherapy with an OPP-registered psychologist (No. 31224) — in English, Polish, and Portuguese.
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