MCT and ISTDP
We begin with what brings you to seek help and formulate what we will work on. MCT and ISTDP help me explore how thoughts, feelings and ways of handling what is difficult are connected.
How the approach takes shape
We formulate the goal together. I explain how I understand what is happening and why I suggest a particular way of working. We follow what changes in your everyday life and adjust the work when needed.
Responsible for content: Andreas Lundin, psychologist licensed in Sweden.
What we explore together
Open an example to read how we can explore it in our sessions.
Metacognitive therapy
MCT
In MCT, we explore how worrying, ruminating and repeated checking affect you, in the moment and over time. We can try other ways of directing attention and letting thoughts and feelings be there without having to sort them out every time.
- How MCT approaches this
Ruminating can become like a mental tumble dryer. The same questions go round in the hope that an answer will become clear, but the process often takes up more space without moving you forward. Ruminating is a cognitive strategy: something you do, not something you are. The strategy may have become so automatic that it starts without a conscious decision. We explore what triggers it and what keeps it going. We work towards increasing your ability to let thoughts be there without continuing to process them through rumination.
- How MCT approaches this
Dwelling on the past and worrying look in different directions. Dwelling often centres on what has happened, and worrying on what could happen. Both are cognitive strategies that can be used to try to understand, anticipate or gain control. What can become limiting is when this processing takes over and continues longer than you want. We explore what you expect the strategies to help you with and what keeps them going. The work is about increasing your ability to choose when a thought needs your attention and when it can be left without further processing.
- How MCT approaches this
When you worry about your health, attention can become increasingly directed towards bodily sensations. Repeatedly tuning in to your body, looking for information or asking for reassurance can bring a short-lived sense of relief or control. At the same time, these strategies can mean that bodily signals and the thought of illness continue to receive a lot of attention. In MCT, we explore how this monitoring, meaning repeatedly looking out for signs, and the pursuit of certainty affect worry over time. The work is not about dismissing physical symptoms or convincing you that everything is fine, but about changing the cognitive strategies that may keep the worry active.
Emotion-focused short-term psychodynamic therapy
ISTDP
In ISTDP, we explore feelings, anxiety and defences as they show themselves in the moment, including in the conversation between us. Changing the subject or joking can sometimes be an automatic way of protecting yourself. We try to understand the pattern and increase your freedom to choose how you want to act.
- How ISTDP approaches this
When feelings arise, anxiety and bodily reactions can also be activated. Sometimes we use automatic ways of dampening, avoiding or controlling what we feel. In ISTDP, these ways are called defences. Together, we explore how feelings, anxiety and defences interact in the moment, including in the conversation between us. The work aims to increase your ability to be in touch with feelings and understand what they signal, without the automatic patterns having to govern so much.
- How ISTDP approaches this
Recurring relationship patterns may have developed through past experiences and become apparent in what happens here and now. In ISTDP, we explore which feelings arise, which automatic ways of protecting yourself are activated and how this affects contact with others. The patterns can also become visible in the conversation between us, where we can pause and examine them as they happen. The work aims to increase your ability to recognise the patterns and choose other ways of acting in relationships.
- How ISTDP approaches this
Changing the subject, becoming practical or joking can sometimes be automatic ways of creating distance from feelings that arise. In ISTDP, these ways are called defences. Defences are not wrong and are often activated without our noticing, but they can become limiting when they repeatedly create distance from what you feel or from other people. In our conversation, we notice together what happens in the moment and explore which feeling arises, how anxiety shows itself and which defence is activated. The work aims to make the pattern easier to recognise and increase your freedom to choose how you want to act.
A website can only show a few possible starting points. In our sessions, we begin with what is happening in your life and become curious together about what you want to understand or change. From there, the approach can take shape as we go.
Would you rather ask first? Write through Kaddio or choose another way to get in touchRead more: MCT · ISTDP · What happens in the room
How does the work begin?
We begin with what brings you to seek help and what you hope will be different. In our sessions, we explore what is happening, try different ways of working and follow together what becomes helpful. The approach can develop as we go.
How do MCT and ISTDP show up in the sessions?
They help me notice different aspects of what we encounter. Sometimes worrying, ruminating and attention become important. Sometimes we need to stay closer to feelings, anxiety, defences or what happens between us. The parts often belong together, and I explain my thinking when it is relevant to the work.
What happens if something does not feel helpful?
Then I want us to talk about it. I try to explain my thinking and want to understand how you are experiencing the work. We can pause, change direction or try another way of working.