Deliberate Practice in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy

by Prenn, Natasha C. N.; Levenson, Hanna; Vaz, Alexandre; Rousmaniere, Tony

• ISBN13: 9781433842900
• ISBN10: 1433842904
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781433842917
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-06-03
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• More Book Details

Summary

Deliberate practice exercises help trainees achieve competence in essential accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy skills and apply them in a variety of contexts while honing their own personal style.
 
These exercises present role-playing scenarios in which two trainees act as a client and a therapist, switching back and forth under the guidance of a supervisor. The therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
 
Each of the first 12 exercises focuses on a single skill to help clients access core emotions, process past traumas, and build secure attachments. The skills include moment-to-moment tracking, validating and reframing anxieties and defenses, and initiating portrayals (i.e., speaking to an imagined other or self). Two comprehensive exercises follow in which trainees integrate these skills into a single session.
 
Step-by-step instructions guide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering the skills, and explain how to monitor and adjust difficulty. Guidelines to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.

Author Biography

Hanna Levenson, PhD, is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. She also maintains a private practice in Oakland where she sees individuals and couples for therapy and professionals for consultation/supervision. Dr. Levenson has specialized in brief dynamic therapy and supervision for 40 years. She has authored over 85 professional papers and three books (Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy, Brief Dynamic and Interpersonal Therapy, and Brief Dynamic Therapy, Second Edition) and has released five professional videos with APA illustrating her approach. Dr. Levenson received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award given by the California Psychological Association.
 
Natasha C. N. Prenn, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, speaker, educator, author and life coach. As a senior faculty member of the AEDP Institute (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), she pioneered the AEDP Essential and Advanced Skills Courses, and is well known as a therapists’ therapist across the U.S. and abroad. She offers coaching and psychotherapy to individuals and couples, and consults with psychotherapists individually and in small groups by invitation. She is a founding editor of Transformance: The AEDP Journal, a blogger for CSAR, and the author of the forthcoming AEDP Skills Manual. Some of her articles and book chapters are available on the AEDP website.

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD, is program director of the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program, and executive director of the Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books). In 2017, Dr. Rousmaniere published the widely cited article in The Atlantic Monthly, “What Your Therapist Doesn’t Know.” Dr. Rousmaniere supports the open-data movement and publishes clinical outcome data at drtonyr.com. He is president of Division 29 of APA.

Alexandre Vaz, PhD, is director of training at the Sentio Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program and Sentio Counseling Center. He has authored many books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training and is coeditor of the book series The Essentials of Deliberate Practice (APA Books). Dr. Vaz has held multiple committee roles for the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). He is founder and host of “Psychotherapy Expert Talks,” an acclaimed interview series with distinguished psychotherapists and researchers.

Table of Contents

Series Preface
Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz
Acknowledgments
Part I. Overview and Instructions
Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview of Deliberate Practice and Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy
Chapter 2. Instructions for the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Deliberate Practice Exercises
Part II. Deliberate Practice Exercises for Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Skills
Exercises for Beginner Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy​ Skills
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3
Exercise 4
Exercises for Intermediate Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy​ Skills
Exercise 5
Exercise 6
Exercise 7
Exercise 8
Exercises for Advanced Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy​ Skills
Exercise 9
Exercise 10
Exercise 11
Exercise 12
Comprehensive Exercises
Exercise 13. Annotated Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Session Transcripts
Exercise 14. Mock Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Sessions
Part III. Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises
Chapter 3. How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice for Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy: Additional Guidance for Trainers and Trainees
Appendix A. Difficulty Assessments and Adjustments
Appendix B. Deliberate Practice Diary Form
Appendix C. Sample Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises
References
Index
About the Authors