Transforming emotional suffering into flourishing: metatherapeutic processing of positive affect as a trans-theoretical vehicle for change

Fosha, Diana; Thoma, Nathan C.; Yeung, D.P.H.

doi:10.1080/09515070.2019.1642852

Cited by 25 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…He also experienced a sense of discovery into the internal world of his experience. This coincides the theory of AEDP that espouses a “healing orientation” (Fosha et al, 2019). The process of therapy is about not only facing and tolerating painful emotions, but also of equal importance is tapping into courage to face the challenges and becoming aware of such positive resources within oneself in collaboration with someone else.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

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A phenomenological case study of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy: The experience of change in the initial session from a client perspective.

Iwakabe¹,

Edlin²,

Thoma³

2022

Journal of Psychotherapy Integration

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We present a single case phenomenological study of a client’s subjective experience of the initial session of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP; Fosha, 2021). It investigates the AEDP phenomenon of healing from the get-go, therapeutic experiences that can begin in the very first session, by examining an example in which the client felt particularly impacted by the very first session. The client was an adult male in his 40s experiencing emotional “deadness.” The therapist was the originator of AEDP. The client was interviewed for 2 hr about his subjective experience in the initial session of therapy. The data were analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological approach. Eight themes were found in three domains. Three themes were found in the domain of the therapist and therapeutic relationship: extraordinary empathy, unequivocal affirmation, and profound connection. Two themes were found in the domain of significant in-session experiences: integrating the emotional self and welcoming change and accompanying positive emotions. Finally, three themes were found in the domain of general change: practicing emotional competence, deep transformation, and energy aliveness and positivity. Therapeutic relational conditions set a stage for the dyad to access the client’s core issues or the source of suffering as well as his internal resources and strengths from the beginning of therapy and to produce positive emotions such as a sense of achievement in doing so. These themes will be discussed in relation to the in-session exchanges between the therapist and the client.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Central to the mechanism of change in AEDP is dyadic regulation of both negative and positive emotions (Fosha, 2004; Fosha et al, 2019). AEDP therapists take an empathic, affirmative, validating, and emotionally engaged therapeutic stance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A phenomenological case study of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy: The experience of change in the initial session from a client perspective.

Iwakabe¹,

Edlin²,

Thoma³

2022

Journal of Psychotherapy Integration

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“…Additionally, presenting concerns that patients were originally bringing to treatment are now exacerbated as patients are removed from the social support which may have previously kept them stable. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) is presented in this paper for three main reasons: (1) its fundamental aim is to undo aloneness, (2) it provides a thorough framework which works actively with both positive and negative emotions (Fosha, Thoma, & Yeung, 2019) with systemic interventions that upregulate the positive affect systems to bring about positive neuroplasticity and flourishing session by session , and (3) its clinical outcomes appear promising in alleviating a range of symptoms including depression and maladaptive cognitions in 16 or fewer sessions (Iwakabe et al, 2020, submitted for publication).…”

Section: Clinical Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AEDP is a psychotherapeutic model of treatment developed by Diana Fosha and colleagues (Fosha, 2000(Fosha, , 2004(Fosha, , 2005Fosha, Gleiser, & Ford, 2009;Fosha et al, 2019;Russell, 2015), which describes psychopathology and suffering as the patient's best attempts to cope with "unwilled and unwanted aloneness in the presence of overwhelming emotion[al experience]" (Fosha et al,p. 182).…”

Section: Clinical Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical recommendations for psychotherapists working during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic through the lens of AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

McBride

Joseph

Schmitt³

et al. 2020

Counselling Psychology Quarterly

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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic created an unprecedented physical and mental health crisis on an international scale. Clients and therapists alike navigated the fears and uncertainty surrounding the virus, often in an environment of social isolation. The following paper presents a brief overview of the unique stressors and psychosocial factors impacting therapeutic work in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, including fears of the virus and social transmission, relational stressors due to isolation, grieving in isolation, fear of death, financial challenges, and the transition to telehealth. In addition, this paper aims to provide specific interventions and helpful approaches for psychotherapists navigating the novel challenges and demands to their clinical work through an AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) perceptive. This includes finding an entry point for accessing the pain: undoing aloneness; moving through the pain: dyadic affect regulation; and paying close attention to vitality within suffering: searching for transformance. Recommendations for the health and care of the clinician are also discussed, such as attuning to self-needs, anticipating and detecting dysregulation, staying with the good, meaning-making, identifying and responding to burnout, and the importance of receiving personal therapy and clinical supervision.

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“…In State 3 metaprocessing (the processing and savoring of having experienced healing), the therapist facilitates the experience of healing, helps the client realize that they have experienced healing, and explores the client's experience of this knowingness; within a relational context, this savoring of the healing experience reinforces adaptive change at an affective level and supports the client's self-efficacy and their capacity to trust another. In State 4, this experience of knowingness-called the "core state"engenders within the client a state of calm, wholeness, and centeredness-the same qualities of mind that characterize nondualist contemplative practices (Fosha et al, 2019b).…”

Section: The Varieties Of Non-dualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dancing With Non-duality for Healing Through the Shadows of the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed torrents of global suffering at a devastating scale, necessitating a strong response to alleviating suffering. This paper begins with noting that the conventional approach to suffering in North America is to be positive and not to be negative. The paper summarily explores the philosophy of positive psychology underlying the first- and the second-wave of positive psychology, commenting on the evolution from dualism and a binary conceptualization in the first wave (PP 1.0) to a non-dualism of integrating binaries in the second wave (PP 2.0). PP 2.0’s enhanced therapeutic efficacy is noted for its non-dual framework. The paper then explores and suggests a different conceptualization possibility of non-duality, fundamental non-duality, that is related to but distinct from the one in PP 2.0. A case is made that fundamental non-duality has a radical possibility of therapeutic efficacy. Being consistent with the philosophy of non-duality, further suggestions are made that non-duality of PP 2.0 and fundamental non-duality can be therapeutically deployed together for greatest efficacy. The exploration contained in the paper is largely philosophical, arts-based, and autobiographical, creating an enacted and lived experience of applying theory to practice.

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Transforming emotional suffering into flourishing: metatherapeutic processing of positive affect as a trans-theoretical vehicle for change

Cited by 25 publications

References 46 publications

A phenomenological case study of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy: The experience of change in the initial session from a client perspective.

A phenomenological case study of accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy: The experience of change in the initial session from a client perspective.

Clinical recommendations for psychotherapists working during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic through the lens of AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy)

Dancing With Non-duality for Healing Through the Shadows of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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