What is AEDP?

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) is an empirically supported therapeutic model for individual therapy. AEDP believes in human beings’ innate drive for growth, connection, and healing, and is rooted in attachment, experiential, and psychodynamic theories. Emotions are important data, so we spend time in each session deliberately slowing down and giving room to whatever you might be feeling, and give your emotions the care and attention they deserve. We are all capable of deep emotional self-righting, and in our therapy we seek to create the safe conditions necessary for you to heal through the therapeutic relationship.

Who is AEDP for?

AEDP is well-suited for people suffering with depression, anxiety, emotional dysregulation or overwhelm, emotional or relational avoidance, negative views of self and/or others, and people struggling in their close relationships. 

What’s the goal?

The ultimate goal of AEDP is to undo your aloneness by joining together and caring for the places of emotional pain you have perhaps felt were unbearable. Our work is aimed at transforming your emotional suffering into flourishing, increasing your sense of self-compassion and self-clarity, and enhancing the quality of your relationships with the people who matter most to you. AEDP provides us with a roadmap to your emotional world. It helps us understand why you feel the way you feel, and why you may be detached from and/or overwhelmed by your emotions.

What is a typical therapy session like?

In sessions, I stay curious and tuned in to your emerging emotional state, so that we can work together to help you experience yourself and your feelings differently. We make use of what’s happening between us in the therapeutic relationship to help us understand the way you may move in your relationships out in the world. We also work on helping you safely experience painful or uncomfortable emotions, so that you can feel them all the way through to completion, and arrive at a sense of well-earned relief on the other end.

We will also likely examine how different parts of your life and your past such as your early attachment history with family members, traumatic experiences you’ve survived, or any other important relationships or experiences in your life may have created an emotional and relational “template” that shapes the way you currently feel and work in your relationships now.

If you’d like to learn more about AEDP, feel free to browse the AEDP Institute’s website: https://aedpinstitute.org. You can also click on the Resources tab to see some of my favorite AEDP-oriented books, podcasts, articles, and so on.