September 2025, Vol. 14 (1)
Contents
Letters from the Editors
- Coming Home Around the World: Carrie Ruggieri
- Magic Beyond Words: Danny Yeung
Articles
- AEDP Fits Like a Glove: AEDP and Brazilian Culture: Regina Pontes & Maria Cândida Sobral Soares:
- To Make the Implicit Explicit and the Explicit a New Experience: My Discovery of AEDP in a Swedish Context: Anna Christina Sundgren:
- Transformation of Transgenerational Trauma: A Cross-Cultural Context: H. Jacquie Ye-Perman:
- On Sacred Ground: An AEDP Case Study with a Torah- Observant Jew: Leah Subar:
- From Symptom to Transformational Energy: Integrating Daoist Yin–Yang Perspective into AEDP’s Practice: Sabrina (Yunshuo) Wei:
- The Significance of the First Session Experience for Koreans in AEDP: Transformation Through Encounter and Recollection: So-Yeon Kim & Danny Yeung:
- After Freud Meets Zhuangzi: Stance and Dance of the Self-in-Transformation with the Other-in-Contemplative Presence: Danny Yeung, Diana Fosha, H. Jacquie Ye-Perman, Xu Yong:
Letters from the Editors: Carrie Ruggieri & Danny Yeung
Coming Home Around the World
By Carrie Ruggieri
I am delighted to present Danny Yeung as co-editor of this International/Cultural Issue. He envisioned and advanced this project, and his thoughtful and encouraging engagement with each contributing author has infused this volume with the vitality and rigor evident in every article. Danny’s editor’s letter conveys the inspiring – core state inducing – impact of the articles and reflects the heart of each contribution. I, too, was amazed and deeply, pleasurably immersed, as these depictions of AEDP led me on a summer pilgrimage across Brazil, Sweden, Korea, China, and Israel. While I am very proud to present this erudite yet personal Journal Issue, I am a bit sad
to be concluding my journey with it – though I am equally excited to imagine the pleasure with which it will be received by our community. Meanwhile, Danny and I will be turning our attention to Part II of the International/Cultural Issue – to be released in December 2025! While the articles in this volume honor the authors’ respective cultures, they also demonstrate how AEDP enriches therapeutic practice across diverse contexts. In turn, culture and context challenge and expand AEDP, highlighting the flexibility and robustness of its theoretical foundation. This volume testifies to the capacity of AEDP to retain its healing impact while adapting gracefully to different cultural settings. In these pages, we encounter considerations of language, faith, historical-political forces, and
cultural conventions with both transgenerational and contemporary impact. The challenge is how to embrace the collective whole without losing the essence of each unique world.
read more: Download PDF here
Magic Beyond Words
By Danny Yeung
Can AEDP writings put the readers into core state?
Yes, it can!
How? What are the inner states of the readers’ mind that will be conducive to such a magical phenomenology? Privileged with the honor of assisting Carrie Ruggeri for this global issue, I find my implicit reading habits comes into explicit play. First, reading at the level of the lips, a quick scan of the paper to catch an overall sense of what our colleagues are writing about. Second, reading at the level of the mind, a word-for-word intellectual engagement with the arguments of our colleagues. Third, reading at the level of the mind-in-heart, a moment-to-moment tracking of the feeling tone as it shows up in each word, phrase or dialogue in the theoretical discussion and analytical transcripts. Fourth, reading at the level of the heart, a deep hearkening to the core of our colleagues-as-authors, colleagues-as-therapists and the affective depth of their clients and cultural world. Fifth, reading at the level of maximal embodiment, allowing myself to enter into the “whole new world” our colleagues-clients have invited us to experience.
read more: Download PDF here
Fits Like a Glove: AEDP and Brazilian Culture
by Regina Pontes & Maria Cândida Sobral Soares
Chegou um tempo em que não adianta morrer.
Chegou um tempo em que a vida é uma ordem.
A vida apenas, sem mistificação.
Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1940)1
Abstract: This article has two main objectives: to introduce readers to aspects of Brazilian culture, particularly the culture of Rio de Janeiro (Carioca culture); and, through these cultural elements, to explore points of convergence between theory and practice in AEDP. It is common for foreigners to lack a full understanding of what it means to refer to Brazilian culture or its Carioca variation, which is why we begin with a brief overview. Next, we highlight how this culture, in its context and essence, connects with AEDP. We observe throughout our writing that, although AEDP Psychotherapy was not designed for this specific purpose, it can be a useful tool in decolonization processes, helping to validate and heal both personal and collective experiences, as well as promote empowerment and awareness of diverse identities and cultural contexts. Finally, we offer reflections that we believe are useful when considering the status of AEDP’s development in our country—its extraordinary potential for growth and flourishing, as well as its challenges—through a multicultural and creative dialogue that serves as a catalyst for a new perspective in the field of psychotherapeutic praxis.
1 “There came a time when dying is pointless. /There came a time when life is an order. / Life itself, without mystification.” (Carlos Drummond de Andrade, 1940, [own translation])
Regina Pontes, M.S. is the Director of Instituto AEDP Brasil. She is a Certified AEDP Supervisor and has dedicated her professional life to the practice and teaching of psychotherapy. She is an Assistant Professor and Clinical Supervisor in the Department of Psychology at PUC- Rio. She is also a clinical psychologist and couples’ therapist. Address correspondence to: reginapontes60@gmail.com Maria Cândida Sobral Soares, M.S. is the Co-Director of Instituto AEDP Brasil. She is a Certified AEDP Therapist and Supervisor
Read more: download the PDF here
To Make the Implicit Explicit and the Explicit a New Experience: My Discovery of AEDP in a Swedish Context
By Anna Christina Sundgren
I will introduce an article that was written in Swedish as an introduction to AEDP for Swedish therapists and published in the periodical Psykoterapi, February 2014. I have then revised, translated and added one more vignette, some clarifications with reference to the international readers, and I have added a preface, discussing AEDP in a Swedish context. I have written this article during my own AEDP-journey, a senior psychotherapist discovering a therapy model that represents what I had longed for, for many years, without knowing it.
Without really knowing, we divine;
our life has as sister ship, following quite another route.
While the sun blazes behind the islands.
Tomas Tranströmer, (1983). The Blue House
Preface
Do cultural differences matter when applying a therapy model in a new cultural context?
I will share some thoughts and experiences that could resonate with the application of this experiential model into the Swedish cultural context. Although the Swedish population is among the most trusting in Europe (Trägårdh, 2009), I believe the phrase “dealing but not feeling” (Fosha, 2000) best captures how many of us are raised. In social research, Swedish trust is also mentioned as “cool” (Trägårdh et al. 2013), which may refer to a common consensus about security. This can also have contributed to a cultural norm that discourages the open expression of emotions—particularly those that risk eliciting shame in oneself or, perhaps even more distressingly, exposing one to the shameful reactions of others. When it comes to positive emotions, the Law of Jante1 is worth mentioning. It is the idea that there is a pattern of group behavior towards individuals within Scandinavian communities that negatively portrays and criticizes individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate. First commandment of the law is: “you are not to think that you are anything special.” Swedes still often quote the Law of Jante, and I hear it rather frequently from my patients when they describe the atmosphere in their family of origin and how they were brought up. It also happens when a patient feels shame coming up, they suddenly notice the need for protection themselves and say: “you know, it’s Jante again. ” The Law of Jante is often set in contrast to “the American Dream”2 and the American stereotype of the self-made man who can reach success regardless his background.
Read more: download the PDF here
Transformation of Transgenerational Trauma: A Cross-Cultural Case Study
by H. Jacquie Ye-Perman
Abstract: This article centers on three main points illustrated through a case study of my work with a Chinese client impacted by transgenerational trauma The first concerns treatment considerations specific to transgenerational trauma and highlights how AEDP is particularly well-suited to addressing them. The second point illustrates how AEDP naturally assists work in cross-cultural contexts through its focus on phenomenology and its recognition of universal human strivings for safety, attachment and growth – each with their matching non-verbal, emotional and physiological markers. I will demonstrate how techniques of moment-to-moment tracking and metaprocessing, intuitively translated into deep and profound transformation for my Chinese client. The third point concerns core state. I propose that core state is a place for the therapist to remain active and harness its momentum to foster further transformation. The case of Wei illustrates that a session may begin in core state, shaping the work and accelerating readiness for another round of deep trauma processing. Secondly, the vitalized core self in core state – with its activated reflective self-function – is essential for the developmental task of differentiation, a process central to healing transgenerational trauma.
Introduction
Transgenerational trauma The impacts of transgenerational trauma have been commonly recognized and researched in recent years (for a review, see El-Khalil, Tudor, Nedelcea, 2025). The offspring of trauma victims often exhibit characteristic symptoms of childhood trauma – distinct from those of adulthood trauma (Scott & Copping, 2008) – which are frequently chronic and embedded in one’s early internal working models of self and other, such as, “I am bad/undeserving,” or, “others are unavailable/unreliable/dangerous.” Indeed, when children observe their caregivers’ hyper-vigilance, they may also approach the outside world with anxiety and fears. When they experience their parents’ dysregulation or dissociation, they may quickly grasp that their parents
Read more: download the PDF here
On Sacred Ground
An AEDP Case Study with a Torah-Observant Jew– this particular article is for members only
by Leah Subar
Abstract: This article examines the application of AEDP with Torah-observant Jewish patients, focusing on clinical challenges at the intersection of attachment trauma, spirituality, and emotional development. Through clinical vignettes and cultural reflection, the discussion demonstrates how AEDP’s core principals–dyadic safety, experiential tracking, and the undoing of aloneness – support healing even when emotional expression is shaped by religious commitments and familial loyalty. Emphasis is placed on honoring cultural language, distinguishing emotional truth from moral obligation, and making room for both love and grief – thereby allowing patients to reclaim disavowed emotional experiences without compromising deeply held values. The article also considers the influence of early attachment influences on implicit God-representations and how therapy can serve as sacred ground for re-patterning both relational and spiritual templates. While grounded in the Torah-observant context, the clinical reflections and principles offered here hold relevance for work with individuals from a range of faith-based cultures, where emotional life is similarly shaped by reverence, religious meaning, and intergenerational expectation. It concludes with practical guidance for AEDP clinicians working within faith-based communities, highlighting presence, emotional attunement, and culturally curious inquiry as essential tools for transformational healing.
Introduction
I come to this work as an insider. It’s easy for me to understand, accept, and decipher the nuances of my patients, mostly Torah-observant1 women from the United States and Israel. Their general outlook, behaviors, values, boundaries, and other cultural reference points are all within my comfort zone. This is my community. The cultural world I live and work in values modesty, reverence, self-restraint, and spiritual striving. And while it is a world deeply shaped by historical and intergenerational trauma (Gabbay et al., 2017), it is also one of resilience, faith, and joy (And delectable food each Shabbat). It is also a population that sometimes feels misunderstood ormisrepresented. But that’s okay. We have Hashem (God). While this might sound flippant to some, it speaks to a deep, defiant
resilience—one that places faith above the need for outside affirmation. It can also be seen as a highly adaptive stance, forged in response to a world that has, across generations, questioned our belonging and survival.
From Symptom to Transformational Energy
Integrating Daoist Yin–Yang Perspective into AEDP’s Practice
by Sabrina (Yunshuo) Wei
Abstract: Abstract: This paper integrates AEDP with Daoist yin–yang philosophy to clarify how healing arises through the dynamic interplay of opposites. Drawing on clinical experience in both Chinese and Canadian contexts, it positions AEDP’s principle of innate transformance alongside the Daoist view that contraction (阴/yin) carries the seed of expansion (阳/yang), and flourishing (阳/yang) contains vulnerability (阴/yin). Theoretical connections are illustrated through Mitchell’s “hope and dread,” McGilchrist’s “coincidence of opposites,” and Gestalt figure–ground, all of which highlight the necessity of holding suffering and vitality in co-awareness. Clinical methods such as dyadic regulation, moment-to-moment tracking, and metaprocessing are presented as ways of cultivating experiential shifts without coercion, consistent with the Daoist ethic of 无为/wu wei. A cross-cultural vignette demonstrates how reframing ‘sensitivity’ as relational perceptiveness can foster core affect, transformational affects, and core state experiences. Implications for culturally responsive practice emphasize balancing yin and yang expressions of health, adapting AEDP’s universals to culturally specific emotional languages, and training therapists to embody flexible pacing. The paper concludes that holding both symptoms and transformance creates reliable conditions for self-organizing healing to unfold.
Introduction: Encounter at the crossroads of east and westI
For more than a decade of clinical practice in China, I worked primarily with clients in a culturally homogeneous context, applying Western psychotherapy models while adapting them to Chinese values and communication styles. More recently, my practice in Canada has brought me into contact with clients from diverse cultural, racial, religious, gender, and sexual identity backgrounds. This shift from a relatively uniform client population to a multicultural one has sharpened my awareness of how cultural worldviews shape both clients’ presentations and my own therapeutic stance. As a therapist born and raised in China, trained in Western modalities such as AEDP and Gestalt therapy, I now find myself at a unique intersection of traditions. This position provides a vantage point for integrating distinct yet complementary understandings of human experience and healing.
Read more: download the PDF here
The Significance of the First Session Experience for Koreans in AEDP
Transformation Through Encounter and Recollection
by So-Yeon Kim & Danny Yeung
Abstract: This single case study offers a systematic analysis of a first AEDP session. It aims to contribute to the AEDP research literature by examining the experience and impact of the initial encounter. This topic of holds particular significance in Korea where mental health needs are statically high and services remain severely limited, and when available are time- limited. AEDP emphasizes that healing can – and should – begin from the very first meeting between the client and the therapist by providing a corrective attachment experience and creating a space where the client’s transformance can be manifested. A series of interviews with the participant-client (hereafter referred to as client), conducted at the conclusion of the counseling sessions were included as data for analysis. The data were analyzed using hermeneutic phenomenological research methods. Findings indicate that the first session experience of this client was highly impactful, establishing a solid client-therapist relationship that carried forward through-out the treatment. Analysis revealed two prevailing themes that contributed to transformation in the first session: encounter and recollection. These themes carried forward to the overall successful treatment. The encounter encompassed a meeting the wounded self and confrontation with the shadow. Recollection involved re-unfolding past memories (revisiting and reinterpreting them. Transformation was marked by the experience of a new body and emergence of the True Self. Throughout this process the therapeutic relationship was found to facilitate and reinforce the client’s AEDP experiences. Overall, the results of contribute to the research on the significance of the first session and devises a protocol for exploring the mechanisms underlying a successful first session.
Introduction: Context and rationale
According to the Quality of Life in Korea 2023 report, South Koreans reported an average life satisfaction score of 6.5 out of 10—0.74 points below the OECD average of 6.69— ranking 35th among the 38 OECD member nations. In line with this low level of life satisfaction, the prevalence of depressive symptoms among Koreans in 2023 reached 36.8%, the highest among all OECD countries, while the prevalence of anxiety-related symptoms stood at 29.5%, ranking fourth (Statistics Korea, 2023). Furthermore, in 2022, the number of deaths by suicide in South Korea was reported at 12,906, corresponding to a suicide rate of 25.2 per 100,000 population. This figure is more than double the OECD average, indicating that approximately 35.4 individuals die by suicide each day in Korea—equivalent to three lives lost every two hours.
Read more: download the PDF here
After Freud Meets Zhuangzi
Stance and Dance of the Self-in-Transformation with the Other-in-Contemplative Presence
by Danny Yeung MD, Diana Fosha PhD, H. Jacquie Ye-Perman, PhD , Xu Yong PhD
Abstract: This article examines contemplative presence as a foundational therapeutic stance in AEDP. The paper first introduces AEDP as an integrative, transformation-focused model, drawing from attachment and affective neuroscience theories. AEDP’s central change mechanism is the experiential processing of emotions, which requires the therapist’s moment-to- moment observation and optimal responsiveness. This process metabolizes previously unbearable affects associated with trauma and facilitates the emergence of positive transformational affects like joy and gratitude, with core state resonating with contemplative experience. This optimal responsiveness is achieved through the therapist’s state of heart-and- mind, or contemplative presence. This stance is not merely an action, but a way of being, characterized by an all-embracing awareness and a deep openness to whatever is in the here-and- now. It is closely intertwined with clinical intuition, an immediate embodied knowing that guides the therapist’s interventions. This intuitive information processing, which precedes discursive reasoning, is reminiscent of Zhuangzi’s spirit. The article concludes with a clinical video analysis of the Case of the Lonely Atman, which demonstrate how the the stance of contemplative presence is realized in the praxis of AEDP, bearing a striking resemblance to the Parable of Cook Ting.
The “Recommendations on Technique” I wrote long ago were essentially of a negative nature…Almost
everything positive that one should do I have left to “tact.”
Sigmund Freud
以神遇而不以目視,官知止而神欲行。
And now I go at it by spirit and don’t look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a
stop and spirit moves where it wants.
Zhuangzi
A daydream
Imagine, in reverie, the following conversation: Dr. Diana Fosha, founder and developer of AEDP, a post post-Freudian psychodynamic therapist and teacher, meeting with Zhuangzi (399- 295 B.C.E.) arguably the first existential psychotherapist in China (Yang, 2017):
FOSHA: Master Zhuang, I am so honored to meet you. I am told you are ‘a true intellectual and spiritual genius, one of the most philosophically challenging and verbally adept contributors to the early Chinese tradition and one of its wittiest and most intriguing personalities.’ (De Bary & Bloom, 1999).
ZHUANGZI: Dr. Fosha, you are very generous, but The Perfect Man has no self, the Holy Man has no merit; the Sage has no fame. (Watson, 1963
FOSHA: I am humbled by your wisdom and humility. With transformance and the
phenomenology of transformational process as core constructs, AEDP is profoundly resonant
with the “centrality of self-transformation” in your writings. (Chan, 1963)
Read more: download the PDF here