SUPERVISION ESSENTIALS FOR AEDP

NATASHA PRENN AND DIANA FOSHA

"Not enough has been written about self-disclosure, and I think I know why: to write about self-disclosure involves self-disclosing! I feel my anxiety rise as I contemplate revealing myself. I feel like a new patient trying to decide how much or how little I want to say to you. I am back in a classical analysis: I am not sure how you are reacting as I write, and so I am anxious. This may be a little much for you already—we are just meeting. Can we track it together? I am wondering if I can write about my own tears and struggles as a patient and as a person. I am wondering how much I can dare to tell of my own thoughts and feelings as a therapist. It seems to be all right and accepted to talk about anger and hatred and frustration, but love and caring and closeness are less safe. So I feel like a patient, and I feel anxious. Maybe we can find a way to be in this experience of this chapter together. Maybe I can check in with you along the way to wonder how you are feeling as you are reading and I can tell you how I feel as I am writing."

Utilizing insights from attachment theory and research in neuroplasticity, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) clinicians help clients unearth, explore and process core feelings in order to transform anxiety and defensiveness into long-lasting, positive change. In this book, AEDP founders and leaders Natasha C.N. Prenn and Diana Fosha offer a model of clinical supervision that is based on the AEDP approach. Using close observation of videotaped sessions, AEDP supervisors model a strong focus on here-and-now interactions, with a full awareness of affective resonance, empathy, and dyadic affect regulation phenomena. The goal is to offer trainees a visceral, transformative experience that complements their growing intellectual understanding of how change occurs in AEDP.