AEDP Institute

Four Pillars of AEDP

AEDP (i) rests on a deep faith in clients’ innate capacities, hard-wired and always recoverable, to self-right and heal into their authentic True Self; (ii) privileges the power of new experiences of being seen and understood to heal the deepest injuries and create a new platform for exploration and change; (iii) lasers through defenses to the deepest levels of wounding where healing can be most catalytic to further change; (iv) evokes new trust in the power of experiencing any and every emotion, no matter how frightening, sharing, reflecting, processing, with a safe other to full and sweet self-acceptance and love.

Linda Graham, San Francisco CA

On the True Other

We all have strivings toward connection, understanding, growth and transformation. The more these yearnings are thwarted by deprivation, misattunement, trauma or loss, the more profound and painful the longings and needs can become. The AEDP therapist seeks to awaken and restore these basic human drives through becoming a safe, nurturing, and responsive “true other.” If a deep, caring and authentic relationship is the vehicle for change, then it is feelings and full emotional processing that fuel the process of transformation, delivering patient and therapist alike to a place of peace, inner wisdom, self-actualization, energy, mutual delight and fulfillment.

Kari Gleiser, Hanover NH

On Healing Trauma

AEDP works to heal the negative sequelae to attachment trauma and harness the untapped resources for resilience and growth of our patients through the explicit and implicit co-creation of a safe and secure relationship with an attuned, self-actualized, self-reflective therapist. A process of attunement, spontaneous disruption and intentional repair informed by specific, experientially driven intervention strategies, and operating at multiple levels: moment-to-moment, session-to-session and across a whole treatment process, provides the essential, synergistic framework for healing and transformation.

Benjamin Lipton, New York NY