Intensive Short Term Psychotherapy or ISTDP was created by Dr. Habib Davanloo in the 1970s and refined over his lifetime by Dr. Davanloo and others.

Davanloo created this model in response to his experience as a patient in psychoanalysis. He saw how his rage and emotions could be near the surface but never accessed or facilitated by the psychoanalyst.

By watching his video tapes of worked with his own patients, Davanloo created a model with roots in psychoanalysis, but with an assertive stance towards patient defenses, and eventually a separate stance to work with anxious patients.

ISTDP has been researched extensively and found to be effective with a variety of patients, and diagnoses. Its label of short term compares it to psychoanalysis which has always been a longer therapy. Master practitioners will see patients for 20 sessions or less. The current ISTDP writers and teachers include Dr. Allan Abbass, Joel Towne, Jon Fredrickson, Steve Shapiro and Patricia Coughlin.