Metatherapeutic processing supports the emergence of flourishing in psychotherapy.

Abstract

Psychotherapy has primarily focused on ameliorating symptoms and psychopathology. This is in contrast to positive psychology, which has focused on bringing about what Keyes (2002) has called "flourishing." Accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP) seeks to bridge the two traditions by both relieving suffering through processing painful negative emotions to completion and then going on to foster flourishing, in session and beyond, through a technique called metatherapeutic processing. After a brief summary of the AEDP approach, the aim of this article is to elaborate specifically on metatherapeutic processing, where a focus on savoring and exploring the positive affects that accompany the change process itself can set into motion an upward spiral of positive affect that broadens and builds the treatment's effectiveness. We provide a how-to primer on metatherapeutic processing as well as annotated transcript material from three cases to illustrate the application of the technique. We describe how metatherapeutic processing can organically foster, from the bottom-up, positive feeling states labeled transformational affects, such as gratitude, love, hope, curiosity, and zest, freeing up these vital energies that were latent within the client. We go on to propose that although metatherapeutic processing was conceived of within the framework of AEDP, it is a technique that can be integrated into a wide variety of psychotherapies, to activate flourishing in session and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).