Observed & experiential integration (OEI): Discovery and development of a new set of trauma therapy techniques.

Abstract

Psychotherapy integration leaders have recently asserted that the future of psychotherapy will involve incorporation of neuroscience. In the past 18 years, techniques have been discovered and developed to treat trauma and dissociation at all three neurobiological levels of Porges' (2001, 2007) polyvagal theory. This approach is known as Observed & Experiential Integration (OEI). The originator incorporated elements of Focusing, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and Educational Kinesiology. OEI theory emerged from experiential psychotherapy, and relational psychoanalytic and behavioral concepts were assimilated during 45,000 hours of psychotherapy. Five sets of OEI techniques are used for titration of affective and somatic intensity, reduction of negative transference, and deepening of social connection. OEI involves neuro-activation & microattunement (NAMA). It has been applied with body therapies and neurotherapy and used with children, couples, and families. OEI has also been applied to addictive and self-destructive urges, panic attacks, and eating disorders. Case examples illustrate applications of this treatment.

Responsive Integrative Treatment of Clients with PTSD and Trauma-Related Disorders: An Expanded Evidence-Based Model

“…EFT principles, originally developed for the treatment of depression (Watson et al, 2003), have been effectively applied to couples therapy (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg, & Schindler, 1999) and complex trauma (Paivio et al, 2010). Experiential methods of deepening access to experience are of particular importance for trauma focused work at CF 8 (Bradshaw et al, 2011), relationship building at CF 4, and schema level work at CF 10.The resulting focus on themes relevant to therapeutic progress provides a basis for collaboration between therapist and client and enhances the effectiveness of treatment (Greenberg, 2004;Greenberg & Goldman, 2007). This kind of clinician responsiveness is increasingly being incorporated into treatment manuals used in efficacy trials, which specify the principles on which decisions about the use of particular interventions are to be based rather than dictating the details session by session (e.g., EFT: Watson, Gordon, Stermac, Kalogerakos, & Steckley, 2003;ECCT: Ehlers et al, 2005; schema therapy for BPD: Giesen-Bloo et al, 2006).…”

“…Although many parts of the memory may be easily retrieved, those associated with the most intense affect may be difficult to access and clinicians may need to be persistent in encouraging clients to focus on gaps in the memory or emotions and body sensations that are disconnected from episodic memory. OEI (Bradshaw et al, 2011) includes a particularly wide range of experiential techniques for addressing this. In difficult cases, a clinician's ability to draw on methods that heighten emotional experiencing may determine whether dissociated aspects of the memory are adequately recovered and processed.…”

“…Barabasz, Barabasz, and Watkins' (2011) Ego-state therapy evokes intense re-experiencing of the trauma, and emotionally engaged re-experiencing is also central to Paivio, Jarry, Chagigiorgis, Hall, and Ralston's (2010) Emotion Focused Therapy for Trauma (EFTT) which is specifically directed at survivors of child sexual abuse. Finally, Bradshaw, Cook, and McDonald's (2011) Observed and Experiential Integration (OEI) uses a range of experiential techniques as well as EMDR to heighten engagement with the trauma memory.…”

The Comprehensive Resource Model®: Overview of basic affects in adversity & effective treatment for complex reactions to trauma

“…Therapists trained in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (Shapiro, ) will be aware of a range of forms of bilateral stimulation, but the only bilateral stimulation used in CRM is with music through headphones. Crucially, eye movements are not used in CRM; instead fixed eye positions are utilised, an extension of the fixed and distress eye positions in the work of Vasquez () and the One‐Eye Integration work of Cook and Bradshaw (Bradshaw, Cook, & McDonald, ). Resources are anchored on eye positions so that the physiological state associated with the resource is kept active while the distress is being explored.…”

“…In others, for example those with greater fragmentation of the self, more time is spent with mapping and resourcing of self-states. (Bradshaw, Cook, & McDonald, 2011). Resources are anchored on eye positions so that the physiological state associated with the resource is kept active while the distress is being explored.…”