Accelerated experiential-dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on healing-oriented techniques and aims to achieve a transformation in client behavior by exploring the in-depth processing of difficult emotional and relational experiences. This innovative method was developed by Dr. Diana Fosha and has roots in and resonances with many disciplines, amongst them attachment theory, affective neuroscience, and body-focused approaches. Although difficult and trying emotional experiences are often our least favorite parts of life, these stumbling blocks can lead to a keener self of sense and instill confidence and courage in an otherwise unstable foundation. But for many, these events can be experienced as suffocating and even completely debilitating. Such individuals must seek the aid of others to help bear the weight. Psychotherapy is the art of learning how to deal with one’s emotions, both good and bad.

Goal of Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy

In accelerated experiential-dynamic psychotherapy, the ultimate goal is to help clients develop the valuable skills they need to address and deal with their often painful emotional traumas, rather than resort to defensive tactics. By instilling in them the necessary tools to confront the issues as they present themselves, they will be able to function productively with a greater sense of courage. Clients who participate in AEDP often find that they had possessed the necessary coping skills all along, but were unable to access them due to emotional road blocks.

Tapping into Internal "Untapped Resources" for Healing

People are more than the sum total of our parts. Inside all of us reside many untapped resources that naturally foster the healing process. Accelerated experiential-dynamic psychotherapy focuses on tapping into these under-utilized sleeping giants and attempts to awaken them so that they can occur as a natural response to circumstances in our lives. The ultimate goal of this method of therapy is to provide affirming and experiential techniques to teach the client how to live a well-adjusted life with the totality of the life experiences they have accumulated.

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy Institute

The Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy Institute offers courses, training, and certification through workshops and online resources. Founded and directed by the developer of AEDP, Dr. Diana Fosha, the Institute is focused on offering a platform in which clinicians can collaborate and support each other while promoting the advancement of AEDP. The goal of the AEDP Institute is to create an environment for practitioners to share their clinical experiences, explore theories, and integrate techniques and practices in an open arena, thus creating innovative and practical ways in which to best serve clients.

Through a framework of supportive and constructive dialogue, members of the AEDP Institute work in partnership with clinicians from other disciplines to broaden the approaches used in AEDP. By approaching AEDP from an expanded therapeutic base, clients can benefit from the many forms of therapy that compliment AEDP, including body focused strategies, experiential therapies, emotion based approaches, attachment therapies, and trauma focused techniques.