AEDP Therapy
What Is AEDP Therapy?
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) is an individual therapy that is remarkable in its ability to not only provide relief from an array of symptoms and life traumas but also increase your emotional resilience, expanding your capacity to live fully. By working with a therapist who works collaboratively with you, your own innate resources for healing become more available.
From cradle to grave, human beings are wired for connection. Throughout our lives, we require safe, reliable relationships to help us navigate the ups and downs of life. Without a safe connection to another—or to ourselves—we become vulnerable to psychological distress that can take the form of anxiety, depression, or other challenges. In spite of these interruptions to secure bonds, an AEDP therapist can help to create corrective emotional experiences.
Developed by Diana Fosha in the late 1990s, AEDP therapy is an amalgam of effective modalities including somatic, relational, and experiential that also naturally integrates mindfulness practices. AEDP also incorporates the principles of neuroplasticity and positive psychology. Drawing on attachment theory, AEDP therapy supports the healing of relational trauma and focuses on connecting us with our authentic emotions. AEDP is research-based and proven in its effectiveness [1]. It is a therapy model that continues to grow and evolve to meet the challenges of our times.
How AEDP Works
Your AEDP therapist will let each AEDP therapy session unfold naturally. She will walk alongside you with whatever you bring into therapy, focusing on emotions as they arise and making space for exploration of your inner world.
The emotion-focused aspect of AEDP therapy is rich in its ability to connect you with the authentic experience of your heart. From this place, your emotions can serve as guides for your life, informing the next steps in your life journey. Experiential dynamic therapy also allows you to attend to painful emotions that you may have buried as a way of coping, and you can find relief from suffering at its root. With the support of your therapist, you can experience the positive emergence of more of the real ‘you’.
Further, the experiential quality of therapy allows you to explore your emotions in the here and now, including mind, body, and spirit. You are accompanied in revisiting the relationship dynamics and attachments of early childhood—and the emotions you associate with them. With the partnership of a therapist who is focused on fully supporting you, you can dive into deeper emotions you may never have explored before.
A beautiful outcome of AEDP is discovering how to live your life more easily and calmly. Your ability for emotional regulation will increase, as will your trust in yourself and in others who are worthy of your trust. As you learn how to stay more connected to your deepest truth and wisdom, you will feel freer to live with authenticity, allowing the best in yourself to come forward.
How Is AEDP Therapy Different Than Other Therapies?
AEDP is a strength-based approach to therapy that draws from positive psychology. In AEDP, your therapist will see you as more than “what's wrong” with you. Instead, by helping you build upon your natural orientation toward health, the focus will be on “what’s right” with you. With transformation as its goal, AEDP aims to awaken your innate capacity for healing and growth.
When we are connected with our built-in health and goodness, we’re more likely to have self-trust available to us in the moments when we most need it. With an emphasis on resilience, your therapist will help you build upon a positive experience of self. And by repairing emotional wounds that you have carried from childhood, an AEDP therapy session supports lasting transformation.
Another aspect that sets experiential dynamic psychotherapy apart is the therapist's stance as a caring and compassionate partner who is engaged, interactive, and invested in your growth and transformation. Tendencies of self-judgment, doubt, and shame can more easily fade to the background and that energy can be productively re-channeled into other life areas.
Finally, AEDP therapy pays attention to your physical experience in addition to your emotions. Its focus on your somatic experience will guide you to where emotion is held in your body so each AEDP therapy session becomes a positive, visceral experience.
My Background In AEDP
I was already an experienced therapist when, in my quest to find transformational therapies, I stumbled upon AEDP therapy. At the time, I knew the value of somatic, attachment, and emotion-focused therapy and—due to my training in neuroscience—understood the power of neuroplasticity.
AEDP seamlessly blends the most positive aspects of psychotherapy—attachment, emotions, neuroscience, and somatic modalities—that can lead to growth and healing. I felt compelled to study and become a Certified AEDP therapist. AEDP doesn't stop at merely symptom resolution but supports human beings living to their highest potential. I find that being a part of the AEDP process is as life-changing for me as it is for my clients.
I’m a lifelong learner interested in transformational studies. My passion has been to learn and utilize effective therapies that draw upon the wisdom of ancient cultures while also being evidence-based and scientifically proven.
Find Out How AEDP Therapy Can Help You
By seeking therapy, AEDP can help you experience a deeper connection to yourself and feel able to claim more of your innate health and goodness.
I work with older teens and adults and conduct AEDP therapy online. To find out more information about AEDP therapy, please click here to contact me.
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