Affect Bridge
The Affektbrücke ( affect = feeling) was first named in 1997 by John Watkins . The term describes the associative connection of an initial situation / initial object from the past to known current situations or things that are linked to the same or similar feelings and associated physical sensations.
The introduction of the term is related to more recent neuropsychological findings, according to which there can be affective associations independent of cognitions and cognitive associations.
The Affektbrücke is used as a method to psychotherapeutically deal with events that are often far in the past and the unprocessed emotional stress of which people are currently suffering from. With this approach, the feelings and physical sensations associated with the event can be updated and intensified in order to enable access to therapeutic processing. Such processing enables the person to free himself from the stressful affects and to understand the problem anew.
Use in hypnotherapy
The hypnotherapy knows and uses associative processes that occur on the principle of emotional bridge.
Use in trauma therapy
In the context of trauma therapy , the Watkins affect bridge is one of the well-known and used bridge forms alongside the cognitive and somatic bridge that is also used.
- Associative processing as a method of EMDR:
When using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing / EMDR, affect bridges occur spontaneously while working through or dealing with a trauma with the technique of "associative processing". In associative processing, the patient spontaneously associates in areas related to the trauma he is trying to address. There are chains of associations (stringing together of affect bridges), whereby the clinical appearance is reminiscent of the course in psychoanalytic therapy, but at an accelerated rate (Hofmann 2006 p. 63).
- Abreaction as a phase in EMDR:
In the course of the EMDR process, during the "abreaction" / emotional discharge phase of the patient, affect bridges can also form. The possibility of triggering is increased here (increased triggering) (Hofmann 2006 p. 65). In this process, affect bridges show up through the increased appearance of memories that were previously not conscious.
- Float-back as a technology within the EMDR:
In the context of EMDR therapy, the affect bridge is also described as a technique ("float back technique") ( Francine Shapiro 2001) and actively used to enable associative access to trauma networks.
The float back technique is based on a more up-to-date stressful situation to which the patient can establish internal contact. Access to the most stressful picture of this situation, the stressful words (negative cognition) and the associated body feeling is necessary. By concentrating on these things, the patient can "drift into the past" (float back) and thus update an earlier life situation from which the feelings and thoughts are known. This earlier situation is now accessible to editing because of the affect bridge.
literature
- Jochen Peichl: Inner children, perpetrators, helpers & Co. Ego-state therapy of the traumatized self . 1st edition. Klett-Cotta, 2007, ISBN 3-608-89047-5 (from the series: Learning to Live).
Individual evidence
- ↑ John G. Watkins, Helen H. Watkins: Ego-States - Theory and Therapy. A manual . 1st edition. Carl Auer Systems, 2003, ISBN 3-89670-414-1 , p. 156 (English, German).
- ↑ Jochen Peichl Ego-State Therapy Slide 26 Bridging Techniques (PDF; 104 kB)
- ^ Arne Hofmann : EMDR. Therapy of post-traumatic stress syndromes . 3. Edition. Georg Thieme, Stuttgart, New York 2006, ISBN 3-13-118243-1 , pp. 63 (completely revised, expanded edition).
- ^ Francine Shapiro: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (Emdr), Second Edition: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures . 2nd Edition. Guilford, New York 2001, ISBN 1-57230-672-6 (English).
