Dr. Amidon uses three over-arching evidence-based (meaning research has shown them to be effective) theories that influence therapies and techniques in her work.
1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used, evidence-based therapies used by therapists today. This is in part because extensive research has shown CBT to be highly effective in treating numerous disorders, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. CBT is all about our mindset: often the way in which we perceive situations has a greater impact on our mood and behaviors than the actual event itself. By slowing down and becoming more aware of our thoughts, we can shift towards a more adaptive mindset, improved mood, and increased quality of life. In CBT you’ll learn how to:
Monitor your thoughts
Identify your emotions
Understand the connection between situations, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
Analyze and challenge unhelpful thoughts
Recognize unhelpful patterns of thinking that you use most often
Understand behaviors you engage in to compensate for unhelpful thoughts that you have
Learn to accept accurate thoughts, or replace less accurate thoughts with healthier thoughts
CBT utilizes a collaborative, warm approach to treatment, tending to focus more heavily on present day stressors. Between session assignments are a key part of CBT, teaching you how to become your own best advocate for healthy living. For more information on CBT, go to: https://www.beckinstitute.org/get-informed/what-is-cognitive-therapy/
2. Mindfulness-based Therapies:
Mindfulness is learning to intentionally be in the moment, without judgment, and without attachment to the experience. Mindfulness is all about the level of awareness you bring to your life. While mindfulness is rooted in Eastern philosophies, over the past several decades Western researchers and psychologists have been effectively using mindfulness with issues such as anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and simply improved quality of life. Mindfulness Therapy combines cognitive therapy, meditation, and stress reduction. Mindfulness can focus on physiological techniques for increased relaxation, such as breathing, meditation, and yoga, as well as more cognitive techniques, such as learning to detach from negative thoughts and emotions, refocusing your awareness to make healthier decisions, and learning to ride out difficult experiences in life. To learn more about mindfulness, go to: http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/ orhttps://www.mindfulnesscds.com/
3. Positive Psychology:
Positive psychology is a scientifically driven, strengths-based approach to living that emphasizes proactively increasing strengths and resilience, rather than retroactively working on individuals’ deficits. In positive psychology, you are able to identify key strengths and learn how these can be used in everyday life to cope more effectively, build a more positive sense of self, improve relationships, create purpose and meaning in life, and thrive! To learn more about positive psychology, go to: http://ppc.sas.upenn.edu/
While Dr. Amidon weaves these three theories into her work, she uses the following specific therapies to tailor treatment to each individual client.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (certified in Fall 2016; attachment-based model)
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is one of three evidence-based treatments endorsed by the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) for the treatment of PTSD. Additionally, EMDR can be effectively utilized to treat many disturbing life events, not just trauma. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (alternating stimulation on the left and right side of your brain through eye movements, auditory stimuli, or gentle tapping) to more quickly get at deep-seated negative memories that are currently, consciously or unconsciously, affecting your mood, behaviors, relationships, and how you see yourself. EMDR proposes that negative memories become “frozen” or “stuck” in your brain. EMDR will help you to work through these memories to become “unstuck”, linking them with positive, adaptive, functional memories you already have. EDMR utilizes a collaborative, warm approach to treatment and tends to involve less talking than traditional therapies, letting your brain do most of the work in session. Dr. Amidon went through extensive training over the course of two years to become certified in EMDR. For information on EMDR, go to: http://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/ or http://www.emdria.org/?page=emdr_therapy
Cognitive Processing Therapy (certified in Spring 2009)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is one of three evidence-based treatments endorsed by the VA and the DoD for the treatment of PTSD. CPT is the trauma-focused version of CBT, and thus will focus heavily on how traumatic experiences have changed your thoughts and beliefs about yourself, the world, and others, and consequently, how your thoughts now influence your mood and actions. CPT proposes that healing from PTSD comes both from working through the natural emotions associated with the trauma that may not have been addressed thus far, and identifying key thoughts resulting from the trauma that are keeping you stuck. For example, common stuck points as a result of trauma are “the world is not safe”, “I can’t trust anyone”, “I have to always be on guard”, “It was my fault”, and “If I get close to others, I’ll get hurt”. Key themes focused on are issues of safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy. Over the course of 12 sessions, CPT will work towards helping you to:
Accept the reality of the event(s) you experienced
Feel natural emotions associated with this event
Develop balanced and realistic beliefs about the event, yourself, and others
CPT utilizes a collaborative, warm approach to treatment. Between session assignments are a key part of CPT, teaching you how to become your own best advocate for healthy living. CPT can feel more like a class and works well for people who enjoy learning practical skills and are willing to put in the time between sessions to apply these skills. For more information on CPT, go to: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/treatment/therapy-med/cognitive_processing_therapy.asp
Prolonged Exposure Therapy
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) is one of three evidence-based treatments endorsed by the VA and the DoD for the treatment of PTSD. PE is a cognitive-behavioral therapy that proposes that PTSD symptoms arise due to two factors: avoidance of things related to the trauma, and unhelpful thoughts about the level of danger in the world and your ability to manage it. Over the course of approximately 12 sessions you will engage in:
Breathing exercises to help you stay calm as you work through your trauma
In-vivo (“real world”) exposure: repeatedly participating in situations that are realistically safe (emotionally or physically) but have been hard for you to do since the trauma
Imaginal exposure: repeatedly revisiting the traumatic memory in a safe setting with support from your therapist
PE utilizes a collaborative, warm approach to treatment. Between session assignments are a critical part of PE, allowing for reduced anxiety and the ability to take back your life. PE works well for people who like to attack their problems head on, like learning by doing, and are willing to put in the time between sessions to push themselves outside of their comfort zone. For more information on PE, go to: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/treatment/therapy-med/prolonged-exposure-therapy.asp
Adaptive Disclosure Therapy
Adaptive Disclosure Therapy (AD) is one of only a few scientifically researched treatments for combat-based moral injury. Over the past two decades researchers have realized that while traditional anxiety-based PTSD is often problematic for combat Veterans, the issue of moral injury can be equally, if not more, impairing for them. Moral injury involves engaging in, failing to prevent, or witnessing acts that go against one’s deeply held moral beliefs and expectations. Dr. Amidon thinks of moral injury in three broad categories: perpetration (legitimate or otherwise), failure (of self or others), and disillusionment (with command, the military, the government, even the war itself). As such, AD will focus more heavily on loss and moral injury than fear and anxiety, with the goal being to help clients experientially process warzone traumas and gain exposure to more productive ways of interpreting these experiences.
Over the course of approximately 9 sessions you will engage in:
Imaginal exposure: repeatedly revisiting the traumatic memory in a safe setting with support from your therapist
In session experiential exercises that involve “talking” with a hypothetical person, specific to the moral injury, that would be helpful in working towards moral repair
As the original therapist implementing AD during the research phases of development, Dr. Amidon was integral in shaping AD and is one of a few therapists in the country trained in AD. She is often sought out for consultation in learning to apply AD individually or in a group setting. For more information on AD, go to: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/co-occurring/moral_injury_at_war.asp
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based, cognitive behavioral treatment designed for individuals who feel things intensely (anger, anxiety, stress, sadness) and struggle with managing their emotions. Dialect means that two seemingly opposing things can both be true. The “dialect” in DBT is the coexisting focus on acceptance in life (of flaws, pain, negative experiences), while moving towards change. For example, I can be amazing as I am, and I can also need to push myself to make changes in life. Or, my partner and I can have differing views on something, and both be right. In DBT you will learn the following concepts and techniques:
Mindfulness: the practice of being fully aware and present in this one moment
Distress Tolerance: how to tolerate and even accept pain in difficult situations that you cannot change
Emotion Regulation: how to change emotions
Interpersonal Effectiveness: how to be assertive, set boundaries, and manage conflict while maintaining self-respect and healthy relationships with others
DBT utilizes a collaborative, warm approach to treatment. DBT is highly skills focused, emphasizing handouts in session and between session work. DBT can feel more like a class and works well for people who enjoy learning practical skills and are willing to put in the time between sessions to apply these skills. DBT skills can be used as a stand-alone treatment, or as a supplementary treatment. For more information on DBT, go to: http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm