When emotions are avoided or pushed aside, they don’t just disappear. They resurface as anxiety that’s hard to shake, shame that weighs you down, or reactions that feel bigger than the situation. You may notice yourself pulling away from people you care about, caught in self-criticism, or repeating patterns no matter how hard you try to change.

AEDP, or Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy, helps you work through these stuck places. AEDP therapists are active and engaged, creating the safety you need to explore emotions in the moment. With the right support, feelings that once lingered in the background can begin to move and shift. Many people describe this type of work as bringing a newfound sense of relief where they leave feeling less reactive, less weighed down, and more at ease with themselves and in their relationships.

What Is AEDP?

AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) is an evidence-based approach that combines attachment science, neuroscience, and the healing power of a supportive relationship. Attachment research shows that people heal best when emotions are met in connection rather than carried alone. Neuroscience shows that the brain has the capacity to adapt and change, a concept called neuroplasticity.

When emotions that were once avoided are experienced safely in therapy, the brain can reorganize itself. This can reduce the grip of old patterns: triggers lose intensity, the body feels calmer, and relationships that once felt strained can begin to feel more open and connected. Unlike therapies that rely mainly on thinking your way into change, AEDP works “from the bottom up,” using emotional and bodily experience to create shifts that clients often notice sooner.

What makes AEDP different is how engaged the therapist is in the process. Rather than focusing only on problems or symptoms, your therapist helps you notice what’s happening inside with care and curiosity. Together, you make space not only for difficult feelings to shift, but also for moments of relief, strength, or connection that naturally arise. These experiences aren’t just positive — they’re part of how healing takes hold and becomes lasting.

How AEDP Helps

Many people come to AEDP after trying other therapies where progress felt limited. Coping skills and new insights can help, but they don’t always reach the deeper emotional layers that drive patterns of anxiety, shame, or conflict.

In AEDP, your therapist helps you slow down and notice what’s happening inside — a wave of anxiety, a drop of shame, a sudden heaviness or tension. Instead of avoiding or managing these feelings, you’ll learn to stay with them in a safe, supported way until they begin to release.

As emotions move, the symptoms they once fueled often soften, leaving more space for relief and new possibilities.

Clients often notice:

• Triggers that once felt overwhelming have less power

• Shame softening into acceptance and self-compassion

• Anxiety and tension giving way to calm and relief

• Feeling less alone and more connected to others

• Leaving sessions with a sense of lightness and possibility

Who can AEDP help?

People often seek out AEDP when other therapies haven’t gone far enough. It can be especially helpful if you’re struggling with:

• Anxiety that feels overwhelming
• Depression or emotional numbness
• Relationship or intimacy challenges
• Shame, guilt, or self-criticism
• Grief, loss, or unresolved trauma
• The lasting effects of childhood emotional neglect 
• Processing or feeling certain emotions on your own

What can I expect in AEDP therapy sessions?

There’s a difference between sharing your story with another and experiencing your story with another. An AEDP session is less about retelling your story and more about what’s happening in the moment. Your therapist may guide you to slow down, notice emotions and physical sensations as they arise, and make sense of them together. The pace is always set with care, so the process feels safe and manageable.

In session, you and your therapist may:

• Notice emotions and sensations as they shift in real time

• Stay with feelings instead of pushing them aside, so they can resolve

• Work with the emotions fueling anxiety, shame, or other symptoms

• Expand moments of strength and connection that might otherwise go unnoticed

• Build self-compassion and a steadier sense of self

Clients often describe leaving sessions not just with insight, but with a felt sense of lightness, clarity, and connection. In AEDP, painful emotions aren’t the endpoint — when processed safely, they often open into qualities that feel most true to who you are. People find themselves reconnecting with a part of themselves that is clearer, calmer, more compassionate, and more courageous. From this place, change feels less like effort and more like coming home to yourself.