Ofer and Welling propose the “Three Triangles of Emotional Pain” as a framework for helping AEDP therapists identify the type of emotional pain that is most active in a given moment and determine the most appropriate therapeutic response. They distinguish core emotional pain, relational pain, and self-pain, each associated with different developmental origins and transformational processes.

As clients usually experience all three kinds of pain, the model is not diagnostic. Rather, it aims to recognize the type of pain that is active in a given session, serving as a clinical compass that guides the therapist in selecting interventions, anticipating defenses, and determining what needs to be processed or transformed. 

The authors also distinguish between the original painful experience and the emotional learning that develops from it, drawing on memory reconsolidation theory to explain how these patterns may be transformed through therapy.

View the PDF of the Article: Therapeutic Reimagining

Transformance: The AEDP Journal is the official journal of the AEDP Institute. Transformance has been published yearly since it’s inaugral  September 2010 and has published yearly since. It represented a quantum leap into a new era for a groundbreaking model of therapy that was introduced only 10 years earlier by Diana Fosha’s influential book, The Transforming Power of Affect: A Model for Accelerated Change. The publication also provided a much needed platform for disseminating the ever evolving advances, applications, and inspirations for the rapidly growing and highly productive AEDP community.   A quick scan of the titles will reveal the vast array of topics and the tremendous fount of clinical material, in the form of session transcripts, demonstrating the application of AEDP to clinical issues such as, eating disorders, sexual abuse, work with couples, addiction, racial trauma; methodological refinements such as, adjustments to attachment style, cultivating therapeutic presence; and innovation benefitting the general field of psychotherapy such as, harnessing termination as component of the healing process and the creation of an empirically validated model of short-term AEDP.  Additionally, Transformance has featured articles on cutting edge applications of neuroscience research as well as commentary on books and movies.