An Exchange between AEDP, Memory Reconsolidation & Contemplative Psychotherapy
presented by Bruce Ecker, LMFT, Diana Fosha, PhD, and Joseph Loizzo, PhD
This seminar will provide a practical overview of three complementary approaches to transformational change in psychotherapy. We define transformational change as fundamental and radical change that persists irreversibly, to differentiate it from superficial, incremental change which is either transitory, clinically insignificant or maintained only by persistent counteractive effort.
Bruce Ecker will show how research on memory reconsolidation, the brain’s innate process for revising memory, translates into a transformational clinical methodology. He will define the specific therapeutic factors that result in the “erasure” of problematic emotional schemas driving the client’s unwanted behaviors and states of mind, and which appear to be universal common factors in transformational therapies like, for example, Coherence Therapy and AEDP.
Joseph Loizzo, referencing Porges’ polyvagal theory, will focus on the transformational impact and psychotherapeutic use of embodied contemplative methods, focusing on those from the Indic tradition. He explains how these methods deepen the impact of mindfulness and compassion-based methods by mixing sympathetic arousal with high vagal tone, to promote flow states which in turn help tap and transform normally unconscious subcortical structures and processes.
Diana Fosha, covering research into the factors that promote positive neural plasticity as well as the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, will discuss how metatherapeutic processing, or metaprocessing, following in the wake of successful trauma processing, seamlessly allows the transformation of emotional suffering into well being. This AEDP technique uses the experiential exploration of the embodied experience of transformation to turbo-charge the healing process, leading to enhanced resilience and flourishing.
This seminar will feature presentations, close analysis of videotapes by all three presenters, and opportunity for a lively exchange and dialogue among the three presenters, Through didactics, clinical videotapes and experiential exercises Ecker, Fosha & Loizzo will portray three frameworks for facilitating transformational change and will engage in a lively exploration of the elements they share and don’t share.
The central message of this workshop is that consistently facilitating transformational change is a well-established reality, and the clinical field’s standard of effectiveness needs to be re-calibrated accordingly.
Participants will be able to:
- List the three steps of the reconsolidation process for unlearning and erasing an emotional schema.
- Describe the three distinct markers of transformational change that both neuroscientists and clinicians use to verify that reconsolidation and erasure have occurred.
- Summarize metatherapeutic processing, and its role in the transformational process
- Demonstrate metaprocessing, anchoring new therapeutic experiences in explicit awareness and memory.
- Explain how therapies based on embodied contemplative practices differ from mindfulness- and compassion-based therapies.
- Diagram how contemplative practices use positive imagery and prosody to access and reconsolidate implicit traumatic memories.
- Discuss how contemplative practices use movement and breath-energy work to induce peak positive affects and flow states that deepen unlearning and accelerate transformation
Meet the Presenters
Bruce Ecker, LMFT is co-originator of Coherence Therapy, co-director of the Coherence Psychology Institute, and coauthor of Unlocking the Emotional Brain: Eliminating Symptoms at Their Roots Using Memory Reconsolidation; the Coherence Therapy Practice Manual & Training Guide; and Depth Oriented Brief Therapy: How To Be Brief When You Were Trained To Be Deep and Vice Versa. Clarifying how transformational change takes place is the central theme of Bruce Ecker’s clinical career, and he has contributed many innovations in concepts and methods of experiential psychotherapy. Since 2006 he has driven the clinical field’s recognition of memory reconsolidation as the core process of transformational change and has developed the application of this brain research breakthrough to advancements in therapeutic effectiveness and psychotherapy integration. Bruce is a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops internationally, and has taught extensively in clinical graduate programs.
Joseph (Joe) Loizzo, MD, PhD is a contemplative psychotherapist, clinical researcher, and Buddhist scholar-teacher who integrates ancient contemplative science and technology with current breakthroughs in neuroscience and optimal health. After training in psychiatry at Harvard and completing a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies at Columbia, he founded Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, a non-profit that trains people from all walks of life in timeless contemplative skills informed by practical neuropsychology to empower themselves and others to cultivate a wise mind, warm heart, and altruistic way of life in our interdependent world.
On faculty at the Weill Cornell Medical College and the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies, Dr. Loizzo lectures widely on the role of meditative learning in the future of heath, education, and leadership, and teaches regular public classes and workshops at Nalanda Institute New York, Tibet House US, and Nalanda Institute hubs in San Francisco, Toronto, Barcelona, and Mexico. He has published frequent chapters and articles on contemplative science in the Annual Review of Psychiatry, the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, Biomed Central and Alternative Therapies. His books include Nagarjuna’s Reason Sixty with Chandrakirti’s Commentary; Sustainable Happiness: The Mind Science of Well-Being, Altruism, and Inspiration, and most recently an edited a volume of essays, Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: Accelerating Healing and Transformation. Dr. Loizzo has a private psychotherapy practice in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Gerardine, and their sons Maitreya and Ananda.
Diana Fosha, PhD
Diana Fosha, PhD, is the developer of AEDP™ psychotherapy, a healing-based, transformation-oriented treatment model. And she is Founder and Director of the AEDP Institute. For the last 20 years, Diana has been active in promoting a scientific basis for a healing-oriented, attachment-emotion-transformation focused trauma treatment model. Fosha’s work focuses on integrating positive neuroplasticity, recognition science and developmental dyadic research into experiential and transformational clinical work with patients. Her most recent work focuses on promoting flourishing as a seamless part of the AEDP therapeutic process of transforming emotional suffering. Drawing on affective neuroscience, attachment theory, mother-infant developmental research, and research documenting the undreamed-of plasticity in the adult brain, AEDP is an experiential clinical practice which reflects the integration of science,research and practice in psychotherapy. Based in New York City, where she lives and practices, Fosha has been on the faculties of the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology of NYU and St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Medical Centers (now Mount Sinai) in NYC, and of the doctoral programs in clinical psychology at the Derner Institute for Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University and at The City University of New York. She is the author of The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change (Basic Books, 2000); (Read More…)Requirements, Fees, Registration
On Demand Trainings are to be viewed on your private computer or smart device. They are intentionally not downloadable; we “stream” them. So, having a high speed Internet connection is important to having a good learning experience.
This training is intended to be viewed only by mental health professionals and students in mental health or related fields. You will be asked to provide evidence of your professional credentials before completing registration and payment.
This is a 6 hour seminar. It consists of 3 videos, roughly 2 hours each. You can stop and restart watching at any time, but you will need to make note of where you left off as the system does not “remember” where you left off. You may of course rewatch portions of the seminar at any time – once you purchase it you have lifetime access to the content – though you may not share the program with others – you will agree to strict professional privacy agreement before making your purchase.
Fees and Registration
- $149
- $129 AEDP Institute Members only, you must be logged in to receive the discounted price.