Deliberate Practice in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy

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

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433842900
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	06/03/2025
Series:	Essentials of Deliberate Practice Series
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Natasha Prenn, LCSW, is senior faculty at the AEDP Institute. She sees individuals and couples for therapy and clinicians for accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy supervision in addition to teaching, presenting workshops, and writing. She pioneered the AEDP essential skills and advanced skills courses. She is coauthor of Supervision Essentials for Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy. Dr. Prenn is a founding editor of Transformance: The AEDP Journal. She has presented numerous workshops and trainings and written several book chapters and articles focused on the nuts and bolts of what to actually say and do in AEDP sessions.

Hanna Levenson, PhD, is professor emerita 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 over 40 years. She has authored over 85 professional papers and multiple books, including Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Deliberate Practice in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, and has released five professional videos with APA illustrating her approaches. Dr. Levenson received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award given by the California Psychological Association.
 

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.

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.

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. Moment-to-Moment Tracking
Exercise 2. Exploring and Staying with Physical Experience
Exercise 3. Undoing Aloneness
Exercise 4. Affirming
Exercises for Intermediate Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Skills
Exercise 5. Self-Involving Self-Disclosure
Exercise 6. Self-Revealing Self-Disclosure
Exercise 7. Metaprocessing
Exercises for Advanced Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Skills
Exercise 8. Working With Anxiety
Exercise 9. Affirmative Work With Defenses
Exercise 10. Initiating Portrayals
Exercise 11. Privileging Transformance Strivings
Exercise 12. Metatherapeutic Processing
Comprehensive Exercises
Exercise 13. Annotated Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy Practice Session Transcript
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: 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

Editorial Reviews

I’ve spent over 20 years honing my AEDP skills alongside Natasha Prenn. She’s a master supervisor and therapist, but most of all, a gifted teacher. Her clear and concise writing allows therapists to learn and practice AEDP techniques while finding their authentic way of working. Deliberate practice is a welcomed and long-overdue addition to the AEDP literature.

Hilary Jacobs Hendel

Deliberate Practice in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy is a major advance in clinical training for trainers and trainees alike that will not only improve your therapeutic practice but deepen your understanding of AEDP theory. Natasha Prenn, Hanna Levenson, and their colleagues seamlessly integrate cutting-edge science with specific engaging, fun exercises that make mastering AEDP skills not only accessible but downright exciting. They are masters at making even the most complex AEDP concepts and strategies simple and learnable, while staying true to the spirit of AEDP.

Diana Fosha