Being Seen & Dopamine: The Neurobiology of Vitality & Recognition

with Diana Fosha, PhD

A 2 hour video seminar originally presented in Lexington, MA on April 8, 2016.


Description of Training:

Dopamine plays a central role in motivation, new learning, and memory reconsolidation. It also underlies the zest and exuberance fueling play and exploration, as well as the vitally important felt sense of aliveness. Yet the role of dopamine in trauma treatment, especially in the treatment of dissociation, has not yet been explored. In this course, Diana Fosha does just that. She unfolds her original, cutting-edge understanding of how recognition and the exploration of glimmers of core self can make a powerful contribution to the treatment of dissociation, systematically harnessing dopamine-mediated experiences.

In this course Fosha reviews the neurobiology of vitality and the importance of recent advances in the understanding of the neurobiological core self (Damasio, Panksepp), and its being intimately linked with dopaminergic pathways. Together with AEDP work on the co-creation of relational safety and recognition processes (Fosha), these constitute powerful elements for a neurobiologically based psychotherapeutic process that aims to work with dissociative phenomena. It is how, in the course of trauma processing, vitality and energy can be brought into the previously depleted system. Feelings of exuberance and curiosity and the motivation to act on behalf of the self are dopamine mediated experiences and they can power both new learning and greater memory reconsolidation. You will also be able to understand how recognition processes can be used to bypass the experience of fragmentation of self. By making the most of experiences marked by “the click of recognition,” therapists can help clients who usually rely on dissociative mechanisms to access, even if briefly, a new “whole self” experience accompanied by positive affect.


Requirements

AEDP Institute 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 and swear to uphold your professional credentials before completing registration and payment and receiving access to the materials.


Meet the Presenter

Diana Fosha, PhD

Diana Fosha, PhD, is the developer of AEDP™, a healing-based, radically relational, transformation-oriented experiential psychotherapy. She is the Founder and Director of the AEDP Institute.

For more than two decades, Diana has championed a scientific foundation for AEDP, a therapeutic approach that focuses on healing trauma, repairing attachment wounds, and rekindling vitality. Her work integrates positive neuroplasticity, recognition science, and dyadic developmental research into experiential and transformative clinical practice. 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 exemplifies the integration of scientific research and clinical 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.

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Fees and Registration:

$60
$50  Members only (must be logged in)