Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)

Steeled for the worst, we encounter the best.  It is not only that some are strong at the broken places; it is also that, through trauma, others become strong, and discover they’re strong in ways they never knew.  For sometimes trauma awakens extraordinary capacities that otherwise would lie dormant, unknown and untapped.

Diana Fosha, PhD, Developer of AEDP

AEDP is about hope for and faith in our resilience as human beings.  This is what attracted me to AEDP in the first place. 

All my life I have clung to hope  – hope that somehow I have the  strength to transcend life’s difficulties; hope that this is true for my loved ones too, and hope for the people who become my clients – hope that everyone possesses the innate ability to transcend the problems life presents and to emerge as a stronger person as a result. 

So faith and hope are the cornerstones of the foundation upon which therapeutic relationships are built.  After numerous experiences being the client, I am aware of the importance of establishing the sense of safety and trust in the process, being assured that  therapy is a judgment free zone.  These are the basics without which it’s not possible for the client to consider going in search of the drama that lies within their internal world. 

It’s a relief for clients to discover that AEDP focuses on helping clients to discover and release their innate well-spring of adaptation and well-being.  AEDP sees everyone as possessing the innate tendencies for experiencing a felt sense of vitality and energy, and releasing this.  When this occurs it is a transformative experience in that the client is somehow changed and experiences their Self and the world differently.  One client put it this way, It’s as if I have never experirenced this lightness before.  I can’t explain it except to say that the heaviness, physical and emotional heaviness, is gone and I’m just lighter, and it feels so good.   

Transformance is a significant process in AEDP.  Transformance is about change and growth.  Transformative moments are healing and contribute to our thriving by bringing us into relationship with our deepest and best Self.  Dr. Fosha says, residing deeply in our brains are wired-in dispositions for transformance.  AEDP seeks to harness the motive forces of transformance and facilitate therapeutic change.

The greatest privilege I experience as an AEDP therapist is being allowed to go with a client on their journey to internal places they cannot go to alone.  This requires a great deal of courage and trust on the part of the client.  I strive to develop the safest most trustworthy relationship possible to facilitate their journey.    It’s a joy to know that this journey culminates in the freeing and releasing of the client’s inborn vitalizing, positive emotional states.   Naturally-occurring healing change processes are activated; resilience and emotional resources are harnessed; access to well-springs of adaptation and well-being are restored; and the client’s state of being  is transformed in the process. 

If you would like more information about AEDP, please contact me via e-mail at therapydoeswork@yahoo.com or by phone at 203-852-9874.