Robert Neborsky, M.D.

Robert J. Neborsky, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Del Mar, California, and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD School of Medicine as well as UCLA School of Medicine (Hon).  He was a founding member on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy.  He served as guest editor of the Ad Hoc Bulletin of Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. In 2003, Dr. Neborsky was honored by the UCLA School of Medicine clinical faculty association as the Distinguished Psychiatric Lecturer of the year for 2002. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Medicine (1971) where he earned the Jacob Finesinger Award for excellence in Psychiatry. He interned in medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and performed his Psychiatry Residency at Emory University (72-75) where he earned the Hope Skobba Memorial Award.

He served two years in the United States Navy at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego where he eventually oversaw the in-patient psychiatric care unit. While there he completed his research on “High Dose Low Dose Haloperidol Administration in Acute Psychosis” and published this important work in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Upon leaving the Navy, he joined the faculty of UCSD School of Medicine and ran the emergency psychiatric service at the VA Hospital in La Jolla California. Eventually he chaired undergraduate psychiatric education.

In 1981 he left the university for private practice where he helped found Tri City Hospital, In Patient Psychiatry Service and later was Director of Charter Hospital Psychiatric Programs. As part of his professional activities, he served as Medical Director of the Lifespan Learning Institute in Los Angeles and developed a strong research interest in attachment theory which he combined with his ongoing study and work in Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy with Habib Davanloo, MD. He was a founding member and served on the Board of IEDTA

In 2001, he co-authored Short-Term Therapy for Long Term Change (Norton) and is a contributing author in the 2003 book, Healing Trauma (Norton). In 2011 along with Josette ten Have de Labije he authored Roadmap to the Unconscious: Mastering Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy, Karnac Books (translated and published in Polish in 2017).   In 2013 he published Predicting Attachment Status from Observation of a Clinical Intensive Psychotherapy Interview which was nominated for Progress in Psychology as one of the top articles of that year. The Second edition of The Collected Writings of Robert J. Neborsky was published by Itasca Books. (2018)

Dr. Neborsky’s professional activities, in addition to treating patients, include training students in the techniques of his unique Attachment-Based variety of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (IS-TDP), presenting at local, national and international symposia and seminars.  He is one of the founders of ISTDP-UK (Bristol) and ISTDP-London and currently serves as a senior consultant to their training programs. Historically, he founded and taught Core Group Trainings in San Diego, Los Angeles (with Dr Davanloo), San Francisco, Calgary, Canada; Aarhus, Denmark; and London, England.

His current research interests include examination of the interface between attachment theory, neuroscience, and psychotherapy. He is also exploring the application of ISTDP techniques to enhance recovery from traumatic brain injury and post concussive syndrome associated with post traumatic stress disorder. He is actively engaged in the application of new therapies for Treatment Resistant Depression. In addition, he is refining techniques of repairing chronic overuse of the parasympathetic nervous system as a defective anxiety regulatory mechanism.

He was a keynote presenter at the Polish Society for Integration of Psychotherapy in Warsaw, Poland in June 5, 2022. In June 2023., he presented “The Theory and Practice of Attachment Based ISTDP” in a two-day seminar in Helsinki, Finland. On October 27, 2023, he along with the Faculty of ISTDP-UK hosted the David Malan Memorial Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. Currently, he is also serving as a senior consultant to ISTDP Finland in Helsinki, Finland and also in Aarhus, Denmark. In September 21, 2025 he presented The treatment of the fragile patient at “The Healing Through Relationship Conference” in Warsaw, Poland.

In the 2026 IEDTA Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia he will participate in panels on Treatment of Ego Fragility and Managing Somatic Pathways with Sharon Lewis, PsyD and Methods of Treating Dissociative Disorders with Allen Kalpin, MD.