Every time a memory is recalled, it becomes temporarily modifiable. Using principles of neuroscience that combine deeply felt recall with techniques from ART (a technique resembling EMDR), memories can be processed in such a way that stuck, burdensome emotions are drained away, leaving the factual memory of events intact but dispelling emotional pain.

The basic protocol requires bringing an issue to mind, but does not actually rely on verbal disclosure of events or details, though it is welcome if helpful. After working through the memory using ART techniques, further methods can be used to improve one’s emotional experience of the memory and related issues regarding beliefs about the self.

In addition to being highly effective for painful, traumatic memories producing grief or fear, this approach can also be applied to events that a person does not have any memory of for reasons such as having occurred in very early life. It can also sometimes be used to address issues that may or may not be clearly linked a singular event, such as insomnia or cravings.

ART is often the most rapid-acting means of reducing or eliminating symptoms. There are minimal psychological and medical risks and it is suitable for anyone who can move their eyes, focus on scenes of memories, access their emotions, and is motivated to change. Sessions typically last 1.5 to 2.5 hours, can be performed remotely, and the vast majority of people experience substantial relief within 1 to 3 sessions.

Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy, which are fundamentally similar, rest on the idea that people are frequently motivated by unrecognized wishes and desires that originate in one’s unconscious.

These forces drive behavior in ways that are not always fully apparent and manifest as patterns not only in daily life, dreams, and imaginings, but in the container of therapy, providing rich opportunities for real time reflection and exploration.

This form of therapy ripens over time and is most effective when conducted on a regular basis, because just as all relationships deepen and become more complex over time, so too does the therapy relationship. Ongoing work also allows parallels between outer life and therapy to elaborate themselves. It is among the richest means of self-exploration.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) conceptualizes everyone as having different parts of themselves from which competing tendencies come, such as fearful, judgmental, angry, or mature parts.

Many people are surprised to discover that there are often entities within their psyches that resemble a younger version of themselves. Some are using once helpful but now outdated tactics to address difficulties. Others jump in at times of great distress, such as a part that feels compelled to drink, yell, or run away. There are also parts of us that when confronted with difficult circumstances that resemble those from early life, reexperience the emotional pain of those very situations.

IFS allows people to become acquainted with these various parts in ways that yield greater self-awareness, emotional maturity, and intrapersonal healing. It is also not uncommon for these parts to manifest during psychedelic journeys, making it a helpful mode of preparation for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

AEDP begins with finding an often aversive emotion, attending to the physical manifestations of the feeling fully and noticing at a meta level what it is like to feel those emotions which often yields a secondary emotion. This process repeats numerous times as the experience of noticing what each successive emotion, and the transitions between them are like, yield typically increasingly more welcome sensations as well as insights. It is akin to pulling a thread of yarn that periodically changes color and texture. This inviting of emotions counteracts internally avoidant habits facilitating movement through difficult experiences, such as frustration and aloneness, to feelings of empowerment and connection. 

DBR is unique in that it works deeper within the brain, and more gently and gradually than many other therapies. Rather than addressing “emotions” broadly, it addresses each of the constituent steps that comprise the ultimate generation of an emotion in sequence. This can allow the process to run to completion rather than becoming stuck at one of the intermediate stages. DBR begins by locating a difficult memory and attends to the specific moment the brainstem's initial instantaneous orienting reflex to threat is activated. Next, focus turns to the pre-emotional physical tension patterns, typically felt as extremely subtle micro-contractions in the eyes, head, or neck, otherwise called orienting tension. As the orienting tension dissipates, successive waves of affect and visceral charge clear naturally without flooding the system. This process can unwind the nervous system’s chronic, sub-cortical hypervigilance, yielding a more settled neurological state. 

Somatics are a broad category that can refer to any form of therapy that works with attention to the body and includes many of the aforementioned modalities that are primarily a matter of awareness of internal sometimes subtle physical sensations that reveal clues to one’s states and internal topography. 

Mindfulness is the foundational tool of consciousness that allows one to leap from unaware reaction to intentional action. Though it is tied to various complex traditions and schools of thought that have existed for millennia, it retains a simplicity that empowers casual and committed practitioners alike. 

In keeping with the inextricability of the mind and body, somatic approaches, including attunement with one’s physical self and work on the musculofascial system can enhance emotional awareness as well as locate and process psychological trauma that is mirrored in the body. For instance people often hold physical tension as well as emotional content in the psoas muscle, that when released can yield notable relief. 

Cognitive behavioral therapy is an overarching domain of therapy that includes Acceptance and Commitment therapy and Exposure therapy. CBT focuses on the ways that behaviors, thoughts, and feelings all affect one another, using targeted alterations in one to drive change in the others.

Acceptance and commitment therapy is founded on a premise that one cannot reach their intended destination if they are unable to accurately acknowledge where they are starting from. It encourages people to accept rather than struggle against the reality of their circumstances and emotions in the present as they are, providing a more solid base from which to move forward and take action to produce the change they seek.

For the motivated and committed, exposure therapy is an intense, rapidly effective, evidence-informed approach to rapidly decreasing symptomatology. It involves identification and exposure to core aversive stimuli, training the mind and body to become less negatively responsive.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is a powerful means of helping people see and feel beyond their constructs and narratives, visceralizing knowledge imprisoned in the mind. It is best undertaken in the setting of ongoing therapy, not unlike how knee surgery is best undertaken in the context of physical therapy and exercise to preserve and build strength and fitness.

Many of the greatest joys and sorrows of life stem from relationships. Whether you are looking to strengthen your relationship as a spouse, parent, friend, or business partner, couples therapy can help bring clarity to and improve your relationship dynamics. An aid in difficult conversations, times of transition, and laying a foundation for success.

Couples therapy functions on many of the same principles as individual psychotherapy, as the forces within individual psyches often manifest most dramatically in relation to others. To varying degrees, all of the above modalities bear relevance to the way two people meet each other in relationship and there are ways to interweave each into couples work. However, there is a dynamism to couples therapy that cannot be replicated by the individual, no matter how deep the work.

The aim is to help each party assume responsibility, while developing empathy, understanding, and clarity. Couples work brings into high definition the unique constellation of each person’s psychological features, providing rich opportunities for each to understand themselves and the other through patterns in their relationship. Find a way forward with honesty, courage, and whenever possible, grace.