OPEN TO VIEW COURSE OBJECTiVES

Explain the historical development of AEDP, identifying at least three key theoretical influences and how they shaped current AEDP practice.

Identify and explain the five foundational elements of AEDP, describing the theoretical basis and clinical significance of each element.

Describe at least three specific AEDP techniques for welcoming, affirming, validating, and offering encouragement to clients through role-play exercises.

Define and differentiate between “core affect,” “inhibitory affect,” and “defensive affect” in AEDP, providing clinical examples of each.

Describe at least three specific moment-to-moment AEDP clinical interventions that address different phases of emotional processing, providing clinical rationales for when each would be appropriately implemented.

Interpret the AEDP Triangle of Experience, accurately labeling its main categories and explaining how each influences observable client behaviors, emotional expressions, and verbal/nonverbal responses during therapy sessions.

Identify three specific aspects of the AEDP therapeutic stance that build safety and trust in the therapeutic relationship.

Define “transformance” in AEDP theory and identify three clinical manifestations of transformance in case examples.

Identify two specific AEDP interventions for addressing defensive responses, explaining the clinical indicators for each intervention.

Demonstrate three AEDP interventions for regulating anxiety and overwhelming affect during role-play scenarios.

Describe specific AEDP techniques to help clients stay with difficult emotional experiences during practice sessions.

Contrast standard therapeutic interventions and meta-therapeutic processing in AEDP (i.e., the deliberate exploration of successful therapeutic moments) by identifying at least four distinguishing features and explaining when to transition to meta-processing during therapy sessions.

Describe a sequence of at least three meta-therapeutic processing questions that effectively draw client attention to transformative moments, facilitate exploration of emotional shifts, and deepen the client’s experience of therapeutic change.

Demonstrate four specific AEDP interventions that help patients tolerate, experience, and express emotions, identifying which phase of treatment each is most appropriate for.

Successfully complete supervised role-play exercises demonstrating core AEDP techniques with feedback-based improvement.

Evaluate case presentations using AEDP principles in small group settings, identifying appropriate interventions for at least three different clinical scenarios.

Target Audience

Outside North America: Mental health professionals who hold licensure or professional credentials equivalent to North American standards, including ongoing affiliation with an organization responsible for issuing and overseeing mental health credentials in their country or region. Please see your local country or regional page for additional eligibility information.

Within North America: This program was developed for licensed and pre-licensed mental health professionals who are practicing under the supervision of a qualified, licensed clinician. Participants typically hold, or are actively working toward, one of the following credentials:

• Psychologists (PhD, PsyD, EdD)
• Psychiatrists (MD, DO)
• Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW, LICSW, MSW)
• Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT)
• Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC, LPCC, LCPC, etc.)
• Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC)
• Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners (PMHNP, APRN)
• Registered Psychotherapists (as recognized regionally)
• Occupational Therapists with training in mental health
• Licensed or registered art, music, or dance/movement therapists
• Graduate students enrolled in accredited mental health training programs who are practicing under the supervision of a qualified, licensed clinician

Continuing Education Credit & Certificates of Completion

Continuing education (CE) credit is available to eligible participants in the United States and Canada, based on AEDP Institute’s continuing education approvals in effect at the time of the course (see below).

Participants outside the United States and Canada who complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from AEDP Institute. They may choose to submit this certificate to their local licensing, professional, or continuing education authority for consideration. Acceptance of the certificate for continuing education credit is determined by the participant’s local authority, and AEDP Institute cannot guarantee that credit will be granted.

Course Content Level: Beginning

This training is approved for 33 continuing education credits

Continuing Education Information

To receive continuing education credit, participants must pay the applicable CE fee, attend the entire training, and complete the course evaluation. Partial credit is not available. CE certificates are issued after the evaluation is submitted.

Continuing education applications may be underway for various national and state-level boards and agencies. Please refer to the individual course page for current CE availability, approvals, and the number of continuing education credits offered for that training. For questions, please contact admin@aedpinstitute.org.

Disclosure

All planners and presenters have disclosed that they have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies. There is no commercial support for these programs, nor are there relationships between AEDP Institute, presenters, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.

Continuing Education (CE) Approvals

Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
AEDP Institute, provider #2307, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: October 31, 2025 – October 31, 2026.

Psychologists – American Psychological Association (APA)
AEDP Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. AEDP Institute maintains responsibility for its programs and their content.

New York Psychologists
AEDP Works, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists, #PSY-0256. AEDP Works, LLC maintains responsibility for its programs and their content.

New York Social Workers (LMSWs and LCSWs)
AEDP Works, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers, #SW-0805.

National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)
AEDP Works, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7622. Counselors in all states except New York and MFTs in all states except New York and Massachusetts are eligible.

The AEDP® Model of Psychotherapy

The following statements describe the empirical foundation, accuracy, utility, scope, limitations, and clinical considerations relevant to the content presented in AEDP Courses.

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Empirical Basis

AEDP® Psychotherapy is supported by peer-reviewed empirical research published in established scholarly journals. Effectiveness studies conducted within a practice research network demonstrate significant symptom reduction (e.g., depression, maladaptive negative cognitions, interpersonal functioning, experiential avoidance) and significant increases in positive indices of mental health (e.g., self-compassion, flourishing) across diagnostic presentations (Iwakabe et al., 2020), with longitudinal follow-up findings indicating maintenance of gains at six and twelve months (Iwakabe et al., 2022). These outcome studies evaluated a 16-session AEDP treatment protocol.

Additional empirical investigations examine therapeutic process variables associated with flourishing and metatherapeutic processing (Fosha & Thoma, 2020; Fosha, Thoma, & Yeung, 2019), as well as psychometric validation of measures assessing positive affective transformation, including the Moments of Flourishing Experience Scale (Fosha et al., 2024). Collectively, this body of outcome and process research provides empirical support for the clinical principles and interventions taught in AEDP Courses.

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Accuracy, Utility, Scope and Limitations

AEDP is a transdiagnostic, transformation-oriented model of psychotherapy practiced with clients experiencing a wide range of psychological difficulties. Developed and primarily taught for individual psychotherapy, the model may be adapted by trained clinicians for work with couples, families, children, and groups when clinically appropriate; however, formal empirical research has focused primarily on its application in individual treatment.

AEDP was developed to address affective, relational, trauma-related, and depressive symptom presentations within an attachment-based, experiential framework. The empirical base is strongest for these domains, and findings from the 16-session research protocol should not be assumed to generalize automatically to all treatment formats, durations, or to individuals with severe or unstable psychiatric conditions.

AEDP was not designed as a first-line or stand-alone treatment for active psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder that is not medically stabilized, or active substance use disorders. In such cases, clinicians should ensure appropriate stabilization and integration with disorder-specific and medically coordinated care. As with all clinical models, effective application requires sound professional judgment, adherence to ethical standards, and practice within one’s scope of competence.

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Ongoing Research

Current research continues to investigate the therapeutic processes and specific AEDP interventions associated with transformational change. In addition, AEDP-informed psychotherapy is being studied in collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai within randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

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Risks and Clinical Considerations

As with all experiential and trauma-focused psychotherapies, potential risks include temporary increases in emotional distress, activation of traumatic memories, heightened affective arousal, interpersonal sensitivity, or destabilization if interventions are misapplied or insufficiently titrated. Severe risks are uncommon but may include significant dysregulation in vulnerable individuals if adequate screening, stabilization, and monitoring are not conducted. The model emphasizes careful attunement, pacing, and ongoing assessment to mitigate these risks.