Alistair D Sweet
This paper considers some of the ubiquitous elements of brief dynamic psychotherapy and suggests that these can be conceptualized within a four stage treatment model. The author suggests that distinct stages in the therapeutic relationship - base, holding, initiation/uncertainty and ending - can be discerned in the unfolding of the therapeutic relationship. A parallel is drawn with earliest developmental processes in the life of the individual and the four stage model is situated in relation to these earliest developmental vicissitudes.