t is natural to rely on overly simplified guidelines to help understand a process as unpredictable and complex as intensive psychotherapy. When we emphasize feelings in therapy as if the goal is simply catharsis, we miss other equally valid aspects which are just as crucial to a positive outcome. These other parameters are precursors that must be addressed first to build the necessary emotional infrastructure to do the deeper work. You need a sturdy basement foundation before building the first floor! The therapy dyad and nature of the therapeutic task changes as the course of treatment progresses. If we ignore the sequential nature of the process, we miss critical steps and damage the alliance. Especially with complex cases involving syntonic resistance or dysregulation, the key is to be phase-specific in our thinking and interventions.

The natural course of relationships, including the client-therapist dyad, involves continuous cycles of connection-rupture-repair. Alliance building is not just about avoiding ruptures; it is also about leveraging these challenging interpersonal moments into growth and capacity building opportunities. Understanding this sequence as an inevitable part of the process helps reduce therapist anxiety about making mistakes and damaging the patient or the alliance.  Imagine comfortably and intentionally exploring the “elephant in the room” (that we typically try to avoid) for therapeutic growth!

Using a case that initially presents with Severe & Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) that progresses through various stages will give us the opportunity to explore the fundamental principles of experiential therapy at each phase specifically. Using extensive video demonstration, we will examine ways to understand the intrapsychic and interpersonal action in the room (conceptual knowledge) to interventions (procedural knowledge) in a way that is not only attuned, but “contingent.”

We will start with "Phase 1:" capacity building, defense restructuring, anxiety regulation, alliance building, and progress to “Phase 2”: emotional breakthroughs, processing emotional conflicts and consolidation. We tend to emphasize principles and phases that are most comfortable for us. The primary focus will be learning to use fundamental EDT principles in a contingent and deliberate manner to meet the needs of the client in each moment. Through this journey, we will emphasize the conceptual and procedural application of phase-specific principles- understanding what is happening and practicing how to respond.  Reliable mnemonics and training aids will help guide your thinking and interventions in ways that will be grounding for you and motivating for your client because they make the process transparent and collaborative for both of you.