Issues in research on short-term dynamic psychotherapy

In this article, we review the development of short-term dynamic psychother apy (STDP) and introduce some of the important questions to be addressed in studying STDP. We begin by surveying some of the areas not covered in this special edition (e.g., the efficacy of STDP, recent developments in dynami c formulation) because they were recently reviewed elsewhere. We then intro duce the four articles included in this special miniseries. We conclude by looking at which questions could be benefit from further study and recommen d that more data be gathered regarding (a) the differences between the many different forms of STDP; (b) the efficacy of these forms of therapies for specific disorders, including personality disorders; (c) the essential theo retically relevant processes occurring in those treatments; (d) matching pa tients to different therapies; (e) the interrelations between different the rapeutic processes; and (f) the different strategies for teaching STDP. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.