What Is Experiential Therapy?

Full transcript of Dr. Tori Olds, PhD, on what experiential therapy is, the four core clinical elements shared across IFS, AEDP, ISTDP, and somatic therapies, and how memory reconsolidation creates transformational change—published by ToriOlds.com.

What Is Experiential Therapy and Which Modalities Fall Under Its Umbrella?

I started studying experiential therapies exactly 25 years ago. So I've had the chance to watch the unfolding of the experiential therapy movement, to follow along with its history as well as the science. And I've come to believe that this movement toward experiential ways of working represents the cutting edge in our field. It's given us a whole new branch of wonderful therapies, including IFS, AEDP, somatic forms of work. And I wanted to create this series to try to pull it all together as clearly and concisely as I can. This will serve as a bit of a crash course on what experiential therapies are all about and why they are so unique. So let's dive in.

So what is experiential therapy? Well, as I mentioned, there are many forms of experiential therapy, from IFS, to EMDR, to somatic therapies like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, or Somatic Experiencing, or Hakomi, to psychodynamic forms of experiential work, like ISTDP or AEDP (lots of acronyms, I know). Of course now we also have psychedelic-assisted therapy. And while they have their differences, they also have within them some core shared principles that make them fall under the umbrella of experiential work. I'd love to go over those core shared principles and in that way define for you what I mean when I use the word "experiential."

But, to be clear, I'll be giving you the most current definition of the word experiential. Originally when people were labeling therapies as "experiential," they were referring to therapies that include some kind of activity, like psychodrama, or art therapy, or movement therapy. While all those therapies would still be considered experiential, when we talk about experiential therapies today, we are usually talking about a type of work that looks just like regular talk therapy.

But what, then, makes experiential work different from usual talk therapy? Well, there are four core key elements that all experiential models are grounded in. One, they are focused on resolving the issue at "its root" rather than teaching skills for managing symptoms. This typically, but not always, rests on having some kind of new experience. Two, they all use mindfulness for self-exploration, which is actually quite a bit different than using it for self-regulation, as is done in many other models, which we will discuss.

Three, there's a strong emphasis on creating a lot of safety during the work. And four, experiential therapies are generally incredibly focused. Experiential therapists tend to be more directive, helping the client stay focused on what they are wanting to explore, rather than getting lost in the weeds, or in storytelling. And by the way, this focus does mean the work is often more short-term, but it can be long-term as well. So let's look at each of these elements in turn.

How Subcortical Implicit Learnings Drive Psychological Symptoms and Protective Adaptations

Starting with the first, that experiential therapies aim to resolve the root of the issue underlying any symptoms, rather than simply managing those symptoms. So why focus on getting to the "root of the issue"? Well, the idea is that whatever we see on the surface by way of what we might call a "symptom," whether that be depression or anxiety, or low self-worth, or procrastination—whatever the symptom might be, there is probably something underneath that is causing it to emerge. So what could that be?

Well, the theory is that our psychological struggles come from learnings or associations held in the subcortical brain. For instance, our deeper brain might believe something like, "I don't deserve love." A belief like that can have tremendous power, even if we rationally know it can't be accurate. When learnings are held in our subcortical brain, they feel emotionally true. Let me give a few other examples of problematic learnings or imprints: "If I take up any space, others will put me in my place," or "If I let myself feel my grief, I will drown," or "Anytime someone does something nice, it is because they want something in return."

Now obviously I'm putting into words the kinds of knowings that our deeper mind can hold. But they aren't stored in language. It isn't a conscious thought, "Oh, I'll drown if I feel my grief, time to suppress it now." It's more a neural association between the experience of feeling sad and the expectation of feeling overwhelmed. So it's a non-conscious prediction that one will lead to the other. That's actually how the subcortical brain works. It learns how to make predictions based—not on logic—but on what we've seen in the past, what we've experienced.

Of course, any time there's a prediction of danger, our brain will also learn ways to protect ourselves. So right with the prediction of harm will also be wired in some kind of adaptation, or protective response. So if I learn to fear my sadness, for instance, I will also learn to make sure I don't feel it, perhaps by numbing out, or avoiding situations that bring it up, etc. Again, none of this is held verbally or consciously. It's just a neural firing pattern ready to be triggered into action when needed. But while we generally aren't fully aware of what learnings these networks hold, they are knowings that profoundly impact our emotional and behavioral responses.

Counteractive Symptom Management (CBT, DBT, ACT) vs. Transformational Change via Memory Reconsolidation

Now, that moment those patterns are launched by our deeper brain, we can, if we are able, choose to try to override their signals. That's the more "standard therapy" approach, right? That could look like self-soothing, emotional regulation techniques like taking a breath or trying to slow down; it could include behavioral modification or efforts at self-control, or even self-care. That kind of approach is called working "counteractively." And most therapies, certainly CBT or DBT or ACT, use methods that are generally counteractive. They are working to give the client skills to override (or counteract) their problematic response.

So obviously the counteractive approach has value. But I wouldn't consider it deep healing work, because it doesn't actually change the original neural imprint or learning. Now, in other videos I talk about why it is possible to actually change or dissolve these "neural networks"—these learned patterns of neural firing—particularly in the video entitled "Memory Reconsolidation." But for now I just want to make the point that if we are indeed able to activate memory reconsolidation, and thereby rewire our initial learnings, then we achieve something called "transformational change." Transformational change is different than "slow and steady" change (that we might call incremental change) because once the root of an issue is resolved, there's no further maintenance or regulation work required. It's just done.

Now, there are many overarching kinds of imprints that we might work with in therapy, and that's largely because there are so many ways we can be hurt, and so many types of trauma people experience. And while most all experiential therapies claim to work with any kind of emotional imprint, through my experience I have found that certain kinds of therapies are particularly well suited for updating certain kinds of emotional learnings. For instance, somatic therapies are perfectly designed to transform deep imprints that have to do with the body and its activations. You see, when people experience physical traumas, it is common to take on an unconscious imprint that says, "My body is too weak or too frozen to protect me." It is also common for the person to take in a fear association to their own fight-or-flight response. And because those kinds of learnings come in through the body, it makes sense to "unlearn" them through the body as well.

On the other hand, experiential dynamic therapies, and other emotion-focused therapies, are particularly well-suited for treating attachment wounds or traumas. By that I mean all the ways we were hurt by early caretakers, and all the unconscious beliefs and adaptations that came in through how we were treated on an emotional level. Those kinds of imprints are often best unlearned through new experiences around emotion and emotional connection. Finally, there are approaches aimed at single-event trauma, like the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol for PTSD, and others aimed at more insidious trauma, like racialized trauma (I'm thinking here of somatic abolitionism).

But no matter what the focus, all experiential therapies are working to get at the root of the issue, and assume that that root is some kind of wired-in, or learned, neural firing pattern that exists outside of conscious awareness—but still powerfully impacts our whole psychology. And as you might have picked up, when I talk about getting to the root of the issue, I don't mean simply becoming conscious of it, like an insight piece. I mean the aim is to transform the issue at its root, which requires some new experience or information that can work to galvanize memory reconsolidation, and thereby rewire the learning that is causing the issue in the first place. We will talk about that process in depth as we move along, but let me just say that the next core three elements I'm about to review are simply in support of that process: of both accessing the original learning, and creating a new experience to undo it. Okay, so I hope that clarifies element number one.

How Mindful Inner Awareness Bypasses the Neocortex to Access Implicit Memory

Now let's move on to the second core element held by experiential therapies, and that is the use of mindfulness. Now, when I use the term mindfulness, I don't mean the therapist necessarily teaches a mindfulness practice. I mean that mindful inner awareness is baked into the process itself. You know how you can do activities mindfully? Like some people do mindful walking, or a mindful tea ceremony. Think of experiential therapy like doing therapy, but just doing it mindfully.

Why is mindfulness essential to the process? Well, remember, in this way of working the aim is to get to the root of the issue. That means having to work with emotional learnings held in non-conscious networks in the brain (in what we traditionally called "the unconscious," but now we might call implicit memory). Now, it isn't so much that these emotional learnings are so suppressed (although they can be), but it's more that they just evolved to by default work in the background. That way they don't require our attention and we can put our attention elsewhere.

That being said, we can bring non-conscious processes into awareness if we slow down and really pay attention to what is happening inside. Actually, there are a number of ways to mindfully explore. One is through noticing our own responses in the moment. Like if we are talking about something, and going slow enough to notice that it brings up some sadness, but that as soon as we feel some sadness our chest tightens in anxiety—well, that's really interesting information that points to some emotional knowing that says our sadness is dangerous.

Another way to mindfully explore is by asking questions only our deeper mind can answer, and listening mindfully for that answer. Mindfulness is key here, because if we are in a mindful state, we are less likely to just override our deeper knowings with some heady, intellectual answer (which is what a lot of us do, right?). I mean, there's nothing wrong with being intellectual, it's just that our intellectual brain (our neocortex) isn't where the networks we are wanting to shift are stored. That's why it doesn't help to talk about things in just a regular way. Our usual "talk in an intellectual, linear way" brain (our neocortex) literally just doesn't know why we are doing what we are doing, or feeling what we are feeling. If we ask people what they think about things, or for their conscious narrative about it, we are just asking the wrong part of the brain.

Clinical Example of Mindful Somatic Tracking and Fostering Safety in Depth Work

So how do we ask the right part of the brain? How do we encourage the information to come up from subcortical areas so that the conscious neocortex can become conscious of it? Well, by simply holding a question or curiosity with open awareness, and then just noticing what bubbles up. Now, this does take a lot of courage, which we will talk about next, but isn't actually rocket science. In the early days of psychotherapy we thought the unconscious mind was so hidden and hard to reach (that's why we needed a lofty professional to "analyze" it for us), but it turns out that if we set the right conditions (one of which is mindful awareness), that our deeper mind is actually able to share information with us quite readily.

So let's say a client comes in curious about why they got so anxious while talking to their friend on the phone yesterday. An experiential therapist would really help them slow down, maybe return in their mind to that moment, really looking for what it was that tripped the anxiety. And maybe the client would notice, "Oh, it came right in the moment my friend gave me a compliment." So the therapist might even slow things down even more and say, "Okay, so I want you to imagine them giving that compliment again, and just really notice what your response is internally. Really stay attuned to your body, or feelings, or whatever shifts come." "Oh yeah, it's super uncomfortable. It creates a tightness here. Something about the positive attention. I have this feeling of all eyes being on me."

In that example, there's nothing really fancy going on. At the center of experiential work is simply a slowing down, getting curious, getting out of our head, and seeing what comes up. Some therapies track more the emotions as they come up, some more sensations, some focus more on inner knowings. And while they each have somewhat fancy techniques they might use, like sentence completion or imagery, or Parts work, in general it's about creating the pace and space to just mindfully observe our inner world.

Now, I just made the case that discovering what's inside is a lot easier to do than we once thought. But it is still kind of scary, right? Of course. After all, we are asking our mind to reveal to us why it feels so urgent to panic, or shut down, or be perfect, or whatever the pattern may be. If we are asking why that pattern feels necessary (or what is underneath it), it is likely we are about to bump into some kind of deep knowing that predicts danger or pain. And why would we have such a prediction? Because we once experienced that exact danger or pain in the past.

For instance, if we continue on from our last example, let's say we are that person, asking inside, "Okay, so then, what is so scary about positive attention?" Then maybe we will have to look more clearly at how hard it was when our dad would praise us, while demeaning all our siblings. Which of course caused our siblings to pull away, which in turn created an incredible aloneness for us, and shame. That might not necessarily be easy to look at. It might even bring up unprocessed grief.

So this is where the third element shared across all experiential therapies comes in, and that is a focus on fostering a sense of safety. Because experiential work tends to go so deeply, and often does so pretty quickly, therapists who use experiential techniques have over the years also had to find many, many ways to make the process feel safe. Somatic therapists tend to lean into somatic approaches to creating safety, like through pressing one's feet into the floor to ground, or putting a hand on one's chest; dynamic therapists have deeply explored how to use the relationship between client and therapist to create safety; IFS and other therapies use Parts work—to create a little distance between ourselves and the Part being explored, which also creates safety. Approaches that work to reprocess trauma memories have all sorts of techniques to make that safe, including doing the memory backwards, or in fast motion. There are many ways to foster safety during the process, including just the use of mindfulness itself. Okay, so here we are. We've discussed how experiential therapists are working in a bottom-up way to outline the nature of the original emotional learning that is launching the presenting concern, and how that discovery process is made possible through mindful inner awareness when paired with a sensitivity to safety.

Why Directive Therapeutic Focus Makes Experiential Therapy Faster and More Effective

That brings us to the fourth and final shared element, and this is an important and interesting one, because it is one that other "depth" approaches have traditionally shied away from: and that is therapeutic focus. I think the original depth approaches believed that the way to go "deep" was to let things flow kind of naturally and organically, and for the therapist not to direct the process too much, but rather let the client lead. But I think eventually the realization was that that kind of non-directive, open style actually can prevent things from going deep.

How I explain this to my students is imagine you are writing a term paper or a thesis, and you tell your professor you will be tackling 10 topics in the paper, and you'll just randomly meander between them. They'd say, "No, that's ridiculous. Just focus on one, so you can explore it deeply." If you want to have a deep discussion, you will need to stay focused. And that is true with inner exploration as well. So unlike other more supportive forms of therapy, in experiential work, the client is generally asked to choose what they want to address or explore, and then the therapist is incredibly active in keeping their awareness on that area.

Which means there is less storytelling. For sure there might be a story that is important to share because it directly sheds light on what is being explored. But it isn't just storytelling all over the place, or like, "Oh, that reminds me of this other thing about myself," and now I'm talking about it. And it certainly isn't just talking about the events of our week. I think maintaining therapeutic focus is one of the hardest jobs a therapist has, and one we often fail at. I know I have. I think focusing the client can be hard, because it means we are likely to have to interrupt, or at least steer things back. And I think we worry that will come across as rude. But what I've seen is that eventually clients get frustrated if we don't take that kind of leadership, because they actually want to make progress, and just randomly talking about whatever doesn't really contribute to progress.

So that is a cornerstone of most experiential approaches—to get really clear about what the client wants to work on, and stay true to that point of focus throughout the session. That means that experiential therapists tend to be much more directive and active in guiding the process. But it means another thing as well, which is one of the strengths of experiential work: it means that the process moves a lot more quickly. Which in turn means that experiential therapy often is more short-term. It doesn't have to be, and sometimes more time is simply required, but it is aiming for as much efficiency as possible. And if a therapist and client dyad are able to stay really focused and present, are able to foster enough sense of safety, are able to turn their curiosity and deep inner listening to the exploration at hand, they are set up to achieve transformational change in a very efficient way.

Alright, so to wrap up. In this video we explored the four core elements shared by various experiential therapies. These are ones that I've come up with; they aren't an official list. But I've studied many experiential models myself, and these four core elements are the ones I've reliably observed: getting to (and resolving) the root of the issue, using mindfulness for self-exploration, fostering safety, and staying focused. In addition, most experiential therapies work to create a new experience. Sometimes the experience of mindfully and safely exploring one's inner world is the new experience, and sometimes an additional one is added. But in any case, all of what I just described is for the purpose of learning, or really unlearning.

In the next video I will take each of these elements in turn, and explain the science that underlies why they are important from the perspective of the brain. So please stay tuned. Thanks so much for watching. I just want to mention, our Patreon community is really taking off, and I've been so enjoying getting a chance to know so many of you guys. If you would like to join our community, and join our conversations, please check out my Patreon page.