Accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP)
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy is defined as a healing-based and transformation-oriented model of psychotherapy. It was developed by American psychologist, Dr, Fosha. AEDP looks into crisis and suffering as opportunities for people to realize their ability to heal and experience the transformation that might otherwise not have the possibility to happen.
What to expect?
The four key pillars of AEDP:
- Faith in the client's capacity to heal.
- The power of being looked at and understood.
- Working through the defenses swiftly and effectively.
- Discovering a new ability to trust and experience emotions.
How does it work?
Establishing a Secure Base
This refers to the formation of a therapeutic relationship or a working alliance, it allows for an effective and healthy rapport between client and therapist. This is essentially true so within the model of AEDP. For most people, having someone who is genuinely concern about them and their experiences can feel new and different.
Making Clients Feel They Are Not Alone
AEDP aims to "undo aloneness." When someone is in emotional pain, the feeling of loneliness can worsen the scenario. The sense of being alone leaves one feeling isolated and puzzled. It can also lead to feelings of hopelessness about future and helplessness about self.
Walking With Clients as They Explore
Having a compassionate, emotionally safe companion to join one in their exploration allows the person to discover confidently and walk gracefully through painful experiences that may not have been accessed before. Therapists stay compassionately present in the process as clients reveal and relive the uncomfortable emotions.
To be in the Here and Now
AEDP therapists are keyed to the client's experience in each session, being aware of body movement, eye movements, facial expressions, tone of voice and more. Actively noticing clients this way might allow therapists an opportunity to help clients explore what is happening with them, through out the process.
Offering Corrective Emotional Experiences
For most people, sessions with the therapist is the first time they feel emotionally safe enough to explore painful experiences and emotions in their lives. People usually refrain from sharing due to the fear of how others will respond, if others will see or hear their pain. People fear being criticized or judged.
Addressing the Mind and Heart
This approach targets both mind and heart as an unit. This allows clients to feel integrated during the process of their treatment, moving away from old patterns such as compartmentalizing or rationalizing their experiences.
When is AEDP Therapy Used?
The goal of the therapist in AEDP is to actively engage and walk alongside their clients, to be interested about them and their experiences, to create a safe sphere for clients to explore and relive their pain, as well as positive, emotional experiences. People can discover true transformation through the AEDP therapy experience, influencing their sense of self, their sense of the world, their way of decision making and behavior. As AEDP has continued its journey from the day of its conception, in recent years, clinicians from all over the world are implementing this model of therapeutic treatment to better serve their clients, particularly those who have experienced trauma.
Role of Therapists
Clinicians trained in AEDP actively engage with clients throughout their journey from painful living to healing. This is not a passive therapeutic style, but an active one, in which the client and the therapist are partnering during the process.
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