This book updates clinical guidance and theory for Accelerated
Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), an approach that gives
patients corrective emotional and relational experiences that mobilize
changes in the brain.
Practitioners of AEDP understand psychopathology as a byproduct of
internal working models, borne out of insecure attachment experiences,
that now thwart adaptive functioning in adulthood. The goal of AEDP is
to be therapeutically present with patients and their pain and to guide
them to have a new experience--a good experience--thus rewiring memory
and capacity to reflect. Updates to the AEDP approach (moving it into
its second iteration, or "2.0") leverage emerging findings from the
field of affective neuroscience to enhance individuals' healing and
transformation.
The authors demonstrate the power of relational work by sharing excerpts
and analysis of clinical session transcripts. In each chapter, they
engage different aspects of the AEDP model to show how emotional
suffering can be transformed into adaptive connection, even for
individuals with histories of neglect, abuse, and complex trauma.