About EDT CORE

Why Were We Founded?

Psychotherapy is a complex human encounter, requiring the therapist to understand and respond to a variety of processes occurring simultaneously. Many therapists experience burnout, overload, or stagnation when facing patients presenting with increasing clinical complexity, trauma, or rigid defense mechanisms.

The experiential-dynamic approach offers a clear clinical framework and an accurate roadmap for understanding the connection between emotions, anxiety, and defenses, helping the therapist navigate the complexity of the therapeutic encounter in real time. EDT Core was established to provide therapists with this compass—a professional space that combines therapeutic depth, experiential learning, and practical application.

What is the EDT Approach and Why is it Unique?

EDT (Experiential Dynamic Therapy) is an umbrella term encompassing therapeutic approaches that grew out of the pioneering work of Habib Davanloo (ISTDP) and his successors. Numerous clinical studies prove that the approach produces rapid and effective results that are maintained and even deepen in the long term. All EDT approaches share a common goal: helping patients achieve significant and deep change as quickly as possible, creating a lasting shift in the experience of self, relationships, and worldview.

The Four Pillars of the Approach:

• Psychodynamic: Working with unconscious forces and internal conflicts, with a strong focus on defenses, anxiety regulation, avoided feelings, and transference.
• Experiential: The approach emphasizes the live experience of emotion in the therapy room, understanding that merely talking “about” the emotion is rarely sufficient to generate therapeutic change.
• Relational and Attachment-Based: Focusing on emotional closeness and attachment, making central use of the real and therapeutic relationship as an engine for assessment, regulation, and healing.
• Transformation-Oriented: Aspiring for radical change in a short time. The therapy is focused, vital, and designed to release the patient from chronic patterns toward growth and mental health. (Definition adopted  from the IEDTA website)

A Learning Community: How Do We Train?

EDT Core is a home that accompanies the therapist through all stages of career development. Whether you are therapists at the beginning of your journey in the EDT world or experienced clinicians seeking to sharpen your skills, we offer:

1. The Official Israeli Training Program Under the Global Organization (IEDTA): Certification tracks for therapists that include deep theoretical study, clinical supervision, and a supportive peer community.
2. Clinical Video-Based Learning: The heart of EDT training is observation and supervision based on video recordings of real therapy sessions. This tool allows for micro-analytic reflection on every aspect of the therapeutic process and maximizes clinical learning.
3. Knowledge Center and Community: Webinars, enrichment lectures, supervision and reading groups, and connection to leading experts worldwide.
4. Accompaniment and Continuing Education for Organizations: Tailoring the EDT model to the specific needs of public mental health clinics, health care providers, and community rehabilitation agencies. We offer clinical teams a comprehensive supportive framework that is far from a standard ‘off-the-shelf’ product; it is a practical solution for daily challenges. We provide a shared ‘clinical compass,’ high-precision tools to bypass rigid defense mechanisms, pathways out of therapeutic impasses, and strategies to prevent deep burnout among the therapists working on the front lines.