AUTHENTICITY THERAPY©
The Next Level
by Yudit Maros, LMFT, C.Ht.,
AAMFT Approved Supervisor
Authenticity Therapy© (AT) represents the next level in psychotherapy: it is an umbrella framework, assessment tool, and protocol for effective, and short-term treatment of virtually all presenting issues. It is a body-centered trauma integrated model that focuses treatment on establishing positive self-parenting with four practices that are both necessary and sufficient for health.
AT was distilled from seven years of rigorous empirical research on what helps clients in therapy. Four factors emerged that each represent interconnected stages of positive self-parenting in real-time: body awareness (A), self-soothing (B for breath), communication (C) with the body’s sensations about feelings and needs, and healthy action (D for doing) to fulfill those needs. This sequence extinguishes the need that caused the discomfort in the first place, and the person practicing it is re-balanced for the time being.
In AT health is a function of needs getting met. Health is a result of on-going positive self-parenting, listening inward and acting/speaking one’s true feelings and needs. All mental and emotional disturbances are viewed as being on the continuum from disconnection to connection to our instinctual Self: the messages in real-time from the body, or the Inner Child about our feelings and needs. This continuum is made of the four distinct stages of self-parenting (A,B,C, and D), according to one’s ability to focus internally to one’s feelings and needs, and then assert, and deliver to them. This is the definition of positive self-parenting, the very foundation of physical and emotional health. What one does, says, or thinks while feeling uncomfortable is what defines our ability to get our needs met.
When the relationship to one’s Self is healthy, i.e. caring (as opposed to neglectful or abusive) all other aspects of life seem to fall into place: relationships, life choices, circumstances, etc. AT shows that all health derives from the ability to respond – and not react – to one’s own discomfort.
AT cracks the code of how Nature keeps us alive and well through discomfort, by prompting us to re-establish our balance and well-being by listening to and translating physical sensation into healthy action. This internal guidance is the definition of authenticity, which in AT is synonymous to health.
The goal of treatment in AT is to undo all obstacles in the way of positive self-parenting, (including abuse, neglect, body memory of trauma, bad role models, toxic beliefs, and some of the detrimental effects of socialization), and then teach the skills involved in it along the lines of the four practices of self-love.
The AT model is an umbrella framework in that it unites all major schools of thought in psychology and psychotherapy into a coherent, logical, user-friendly and replicable system of thought and practice focused on extinguishing the conflict between Mind and Body, Inner Parent and Inner Child, in order to establish a grounded, stable sense of Self to build one’s life around.
AT also represents a unification model between East and West: awareness, compassion, and self-soothing, or A and B (i.e. teachings from the Eastern traditions) are forged together with the communication and action (C and D) oriented culture of the West.
Authenticity Therapy© has been published in the format of a self-help book entitled Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love by Yudit Maros both in the US and in Hungary, where the International Association of Authenticity Therapy was established in 2012, and where this modality was adopted at that time by the main psychiatric hospital (Nyiro Gyula Psychiatric Hospital) in Budapest as their main treatment modality.
Using the AT model for the understanding and the treatment of a great variety of issues carries some major advantages over existing therapeutic modalities:
- Conceptually clear and coherent framework and roadmap for clinicians to conceptualize and design treatment;
- Streamlined course of treatment: a protocol for treatment to enable clinicians to confidently navigate the complexities of any client presentation;
- AT is easily teachable, reliable, replicable, and tested for 16 years, thus bringing the field of psychotherapy closer than ever to being a science;
- Faster treatment due to AT’s ability to quickly and effectively get to the core of the issue: the type of relating to one’s Self – the common denominator that all issues center around;
- AT integrates all major schools of thought (EFT, CBT, Systems theory, IFS, Psychodynamic, Somatic, Mindfulness based, Attachment therapies, etc.), as well as the knowledge of East and West, unifying the field of psychology and therapy, and connecting it with biology and spirituality;
- Client empowerment:
* the clinician is an “expert guide” back to the client’s internal guidance system
* focus on internal locus of control
* AT extinguishes “resistance”: all answers come from the client
* powerful education in self-help with the AT protocol; - Strength based approach: AT only uses the past to find the prevailing relational patterns, promptly resolves trauma, and then builds client internal resources to replace old patterns with positive self-parenting;
- Streamlined skill building: each life skill is taught and used in the context of one of the four practices of positive self-parenting;
- Lasting results: the client learns the protocol and will use it to avoid relapse, and maintain treatment gains;
- Lower cost of therapy: Typical duration of treatment is 12-20 sessions to deliver treatment with a lasting success rate.
Certification Courses, and Train the Trainer courses are available upon request.
CEU’S AWARDED THROUGH NASW-CT
Authenticity Therapy© Certification Training content and schedule:
Summary of Program Content:
This Program is an Advanced Training in Authenticity Therapy, integrated with a full 6-hour skills training in Brief, Solution Oriented Trauma Resolution (BSOTR). Participants will be introduced to Authenticity Therapy’s theory of health and the research-based four practices that are both necessary and sufficient for positive self-parenting and effective Inner Child Work. The participants will learn how to assess for trauma and self-parenting style, and how to conduct a full treatment protocol based on the four practices of positive self-parenting. They will return with an integrated, body centered framework, and set of skills that will increase the effectiveness, and shorten the duration of their clinical work.
As presented at APA, AAMFT, CTAMFT, SEPI, and Harvard, and summarized in “Apple of My I: The Four Practices of Self-Love” by Yudit Maros, LMFT the purpose of this program is to:
- expand participants’ perspective on clinical assessment and intervention
- elevate the field of psychotherapy onto a higher level of clarity and effectiveness
- teach participants about the newest findings on the underlying pattern of mental health
- offer thorough training on the Authenticity Protocol for treatment
- teach the most effective skills to extinguish body memory of trauma with BSOTR, a prerequisite for positive self-parenting
- offer in-depth understanding and the necessary skills to assess clients on the AT scale
- offer instruction on self-assessment and Self-of-the-Therapist implications for treatment.
Attendees will:
- gain a new, integrated and streamlined framework in therapy;
- understand the scope and depth of self-parenting in mental-, and relationship health
- learn how to assess clients on the AT scale;
- acquire the skills to treat clients with the 4-step Authenticity Protocol;
- understand the new way to relate to clients from authority to partner and guide back to the Self;
- gain the ability to self-assess, to eliminate projections, and counter transference;
- understand the cultural implications of this new perspective;
- learn to streamline and tie in each session into a coherent framework from intake to discharge for effective and short-term treatment;
- get trained in Brief, Solution Oriented Trauma Resolution to extinguish body memory of trauma.
To schedule a training please contact Yudit Maros, LMFT at [email protected].