Supervision Essentials for Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy

Book excerpt: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) is based on the concept of transformation. AEDP therapists utilize insights from attachment theory and research demonstrating the brain's power to reorganize itself and develop new pathways through neuroplasticity. AEDP clinicians help clients unearth, explore, and process core feelings in order to transform anxiety and defensiveness into long-lasting, positive change. In this comprehensive guide, AEDP leaders Natasha Prenn and Diana Fosha offer a model of clinical supervision that is based on the AEDP approach. AEDP supervisors seek to create dynamic change within the supervisee, so that trainees understand on a visceral level the process they aim to facilitate in therapy with clients. Through close observation of videotaped sessions, AEDP supervisors model a strong focus on here-and-now interactions characterized by affective resonance, and empathy. The goal is to offer trainees an embodied experience to mirror their growing intellectual understanding of how change occurs in AEDP. The book also includes vignettes from Dr. Fosha's supervisory sessions with a real trainee, as shown in the DVD Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Supervision, also available from APA Books.