Sunshine Psychology gives light and warmth.
Affect integration, mental health, and mental health care.
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Psychologist Andreas Aamodt, Specialist in Clinical Psychology.
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Wisdom and love give us light and warmth.
These qualities symbolize wisdom and love, guiding us towards good and meaningful lives.
Wisdom and love give us light and warmth.
In turn, light and warmth provide compassion to us all.
With these qualities, we can all live good and meaningful lives.
It is necessary to understand and handle our feelings, wants, and needs with wisdom and love if we are to live good and meaningful lives. Validated psychological theory, scientific studies, and experience have demonstrated that understanding and mastering feelings, wants, and needs can help remedy and cure psychiatric disorders.
I am promoting Affect Integration Theory and Affect Consciousness Therapy. They are based on extensive positive clinical, practical, and scientific experiences using Professor Dr. Monsen's Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy Model, a model for which I am a certified trainer. The Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model is a science-based and integrative psychotherapy method focused on feelings and affect integration. Monsen and colleagues are working at the University of Oslo. The therapy method is partly based on Dr. Silvan Tomkins's Affect Script Psychology and has documented outstanding outcomes in scientific studies and clinical practice (Monsen & Monsen, 1999; Solbakken, 2011; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015; Aamodt, 2010, 2014 & 2015). It can effectively help and cure people with severe personality disorders and other severe psychiatric disorders such as complex traumas, anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, long-standing psychoses, and schizophrenia.
The main goal of Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy is to expand our ability to integrate and regulate feelings, wants, and needs. We do this by training ourselves and our clients to recognize, manage, reflect upon, wisely use, and express feelings, wants, and needs. It can help us understand and solve problems, as well as fulfill our most important wants and needs. As a result of this, our health and quality of life improve. The Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model thus makes it possible to treat people with most mental disorders efficiently (Monsen & Monsen, 1999; Solbakken, 2011; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015; Aamodt, 2010, 2014 & 2015, as well as several Norwegian references). I have given numerous presentations alongside some of the most seriously ill and well-known patients from Southern Norway General Hospital, demonstrating how they fully recovered by learning to understand and manage their feelings, wants, and needs through evidence-based therapy, care, and mental training grounded in wisdom and love.
I studied for seven years at the Universities of Bergen and Oslo to become a clinical psychologist. After graduation, I worked in psychiatric institutions and trained to become a specialist in clinical psychology. I have continued to learn from and work with Monsen at the University of Oslo. In 2011, I became a certified psychotherapy teacher at The Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy, founded by Monsen and colleagues. While practicing Affect Consciousness Therapy, I integrate therapeutic practices from other science- and evidence-based therapeutic traditions, such as Compassion-Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training, Schema Therapy, and Psychoanalytical Intersubjective Therapy. I have studied and practiced these psychotherapeutic traditions extensively. I have also discussed methods to integrate and regulate feelings, wants, and needs with all the founders of these great traditions.
My mission is to protect and promote as much life as possible. To do this, we must learn to understand and master our feelings, wants, and needs. It is important to use wisdom and love and to train to live with passion and compassion. I practice psychotherapy and teach affect integration, mental health, and efficient mental health care with wisdom and love.
Wisdom and love give light and warmth.
A few international references:
- Aamodt, A. (2010). Understanding and treating people with severe mental disorders. The Affect Consciousness Model (DVD). Philadelphia: The Tomkins Institute.
-Aamodt, A. (2011). Light to the darker aspects of human existence. Video recorded presentation at the Integral Institute. Boulder. CO USA.
- Aamodt, A. (2014). Affect Conscious Therapy and the Affect Conscious Interview. Presentation at The Tomkins Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland USA.
- Aamodt, A. (2015). Affect Integration, Mental Health, and Affect Conscious Psychotherapy. Presentation at The Wright Institute, Berkeley, California USA.
- Aamodt, A., Monsen, J. T. & Solbakken, O. A. (2015). Affect integration, mental health, and mental health care: A study of how affects can be experienced, managed and expressed among patients with borderline personality disorders and a normal reference sample. Kristiansand / Oslo: Proposal for Scientific Study 2016–2019 at the Southern Norway General Hospital and the University of Oslo.
And, by my colleagues:
- Monsen, J. T. & Monsen, K. (1999). Affects and affect consciousness: A psychotherapy model integrating Silvan Tomkin’s affect-and-script theory within the framework of self-psychology. In Goldberg, A. (Ed.), Progress in self-psychology, Vol 15. Hillsdale: The analytic press.
- Solbakken, O. A. (2011). Affect Integration, psychopathology, and psychotherapy: Conceptual issues, construct validity, and the prediction of change. Oslo: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
These qualities symbolize wisdom and love, guiding us towards good and meaningful lives.
Wisdom and love give us light and warmth.
In turn, light and warmth provide compassion to us all.
With these qualities, we can all live good and meaningful lives.
It is necessary to understand and handle our feelings, wants, and needs with wisdom and love if we are to live good and meaningful lives. Validated psychological theory, scientific studies, and experience have demonstrated that understanding and mastering feelings, wants, and needs can help remedy and cure psychiatric disorders.
I am promoting Affect Integration Theory and Affect Consciousness Therapy. They are based on extensive positive clinical, practical, and scientific experiences using Professor Dr. Monsen's Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy Model, a model for which I am a certified trainer. The Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model is a science-based and integrative psychotherapy method focused on feelings and affect integration. Monsen and colleagues are working at the University of Oslo. The therapy method is partly based on Dr. Silvan Tomkins's Affect Script Psychology and has documented outstanding outcomes in scientific studies and clinical practice (Monsen & Monsen, 1999; Solbakken, 2011; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015; Aamodt, 2010, 2014 & 2015). It can effectively help and cure people with severe personality disorders and other severe psychiatric disorders such as complex traumas, anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, long-standing psychoses, and schizophrenia.
The main goal of Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy is to expand our ability to integrate and regulate feelings, wants, and needs. We do this by training ourselves and our clients to recognize, manage, reflect upon, wisely use, and express feelings, wants, and needs. It can help us understand and solve problems, as well as fulfill our most important wants and needs. As a result of this, our health and quality of life improve. The Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model thus makes it possible to treat people with most mental disorders efficiently (Monsen & Monsen, 1999; Solbakken, 2011; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015; Aamodt, 2010, 2014 & 2015, as well as several Norwegian references). I have given numerous presentations alongside some of the most seriously ill and well-known patients from Southern Norway General Hospital, demonstrating how they fully recovered by learning to understand and manage their feelings, wants, and needs through evidence-based therapy, care, and mental training grounded in wisdom and love.
I studied for seven years at the Universities of Bergen and Oslo to become a clinical psychologist. After graduation, I worked in psychiatric institutions and trained to become a specialist in clinical psychology. I have continued to learn from and work with Monsen at the University of Oslo. In 2011, I became a certified psychotherapy teacher at The Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy, founded by Monsen and colleagues. While practicing Affect Consciousness Therapy, I integrate therapeutic practices from other science- and evidence-based therapeutic traditions, such as Compassion-Focused Therapy and Compassionate Mind Training, Schema Therapy, and Psychoanalytical Intersubjective Therapy. I have studied and practiced these psychotherapeutic traditions extensively. I have also discussed methods to integrate and regulate feelings, wants, and needs with all the founders of these great traditions.
My mission is to protect and promote as much life as possible. To do this, we must learn to understand and master our feelings, wants, and needs. It is important to use wisdom and love and to train to live with passion and compassion. I practice psychotherapy and teach affect integration, mental health, and efficient mental health care with wisdom and love.
Wisdom and love give light and warmth.
A few international references:
- Aamodt, A. (2010). Understanding and treating people with severe mental disorders. The Affect Consciousness Model (DVD). Philadelphia: The Tomkins Institute.
-Aamodt, A. (2011). Light to the darker aspects of human existence. Video recorded presentation at the Integral Institute. Boulder. CO USA.
- Aamodt, A. (2014). Affect Conscious Therapy and the Affect Conscious Interview. Presentation at The Tomkins Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland USA.
- Aamodt, A. (2015). Affect Integration, Mental Health, and Affect Conscious Psychotherapy. Presentation at The Wright Institute, Berkeley, California USA.
- Aamodt, A., Monsen, J. T. & Solbakken, O. A. (2015). Affect integration, mental health, and mental health care: A study of how affects can be experienced, managed and expressed among patients with borderline personality disorders and a normal reference sample. Kristiansand / Oslo: Proposal for Scientific Study 2016–2019 at the Southern Norway General Hospital and the University of Oslo.
And, by my colleagues:
- Monsen, J. T. & Monsen, K. (1999). Affects and affect consciousness: A psychotherapy model integrating Silvan Tomkin’s affect-and-script theory within the framework of self-psychology. In Goldberg, A. (Ed.), Progress in self-psychology, Vol 15. Hillsdale: The analytic press.
- Solbakken, O. A. (2011). Affect Integration, psychopathology, and psychotherapy: Conceptual issues, construct validity, and the prediction of change. Oslo: Department of Psychology, University of Oslo.
International presentations and material on Affect Integration, Mental Health, and Psychotherapy
I have presented internationally on understanding and treating individuals with severe mental disorders. In the USA, Dr. Donald Nathanson of the Silvan Tomkins Institute invited me to present the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model at an international conference called 'Maximizing Emotional Connections' in Texas. Since then, I have presented on 'Affect Integration, Mental Health, and Mental Health Care' for The Integral Center in Colorado, The Tomkins Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. Additionally, I have presented in Stockholm, Sweden. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to present, alongside a former patient, at a large international conference on Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis in Norway.
I have presented internationally on understanding and treating individuals with severe mental disorders. In the USA, Dr. Donald Nathanson of the Silvan Tomkins Institute invited me to present the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model at an international conference called 'Maximizing Emotional Connections' in Texas. Since then, I have presented on 'Affect Integration, Mental Health, and Mental Health Care' for The Integral Center in Colorado, The Tomkins Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. Additionally, I have presented in Stockholm, Sweden. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to present, alongside a former patient, at a large international conference on Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis in Norway.
Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy is an integrative self development method. Psychological theory, resarch, and clinical experience has documented its unusual effectiveness for treating mental disorders.
We understand most psychopathology as a lack of integration and regulation of affects (somatic aspects of feelings), cognition, and behavior, as they are related to our wants and needs. Since experiences of affects are often unclear, undifferentiated, highly automatic, and organized by unconscious scripts, the integration of affects and feelings is the main focus of the integration process. Affects have a fusion power and act like a psychic glue that binds ideas and sensorimotor information to a unified core that constitutes our sense of self. Therapists using the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model focus on identifying, validating, and working with the affects activated in the patient and the scripts for handling them.
In the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model, we work on establishing a more cohesive and positive sense of self by identifying and validating feelings, wants, and needs. We will also focus on identifying the so-called scripts for handling each affect, and identify patient's maladaptive scripts. These scripts are understood and explained by formative contexts. As a part of the treatment, the therapist encourages patients to overcome maladaptive scripts and trains them to recognize, manage, reflect upon, utilize, and express feelings, wants, and needs as wisely as possible. The therapist encourages and helps patients to solve problems, and to fulfill their most important wants and needs.
Below is some more material on the Affect Consciousness Model,
and a primer on Affect Psychology written by my friend Dr. V. Kelly.
We understand most psychopathology as a lack of integration and regulation of affects (somatic aspects of feelings), cognition, and behavior, as they are related to our wants and needs. Since experiences of affects are often unclear, undifferentiated, highly automatic, and organized by unconscious scripts, the integration of affects and feelings is the main focus of the integration process. Affects have a fusion power and act like a psychic glue that binds ideas and sensorimotor information to a unified core that constitutes our sense of self. Therapists using the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model focus on identifying, validating, and working with the affects activated in the patient and the scripts for handling them.
In the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model, we work on establishing a more cohesive and positive sense of self by identifying and validating feelings, wants, and needs. We will also focus on identifying the so-called scripts for handling each affect, and identify patient's maladaptive scripts. These scripts are understood and explained by formative contexts. As a part of the treatment, the therapist encourages patients to overcome maladaptive scripts and trains them to recognize, manage, reflect upon, utilize, and express feelings, wants, and needs as wisely as possible. The therapist encourages and helps patients to solve problems, and to fulfill their most important wants and needs.
Below is some more material on the Affect Consciousness Model,
and a primer on Affect Psychology written by my friend Dr. V. Kelly.
| affect_conscious_therapy_in_one_page_v1.4__a_very_simplified_version_by_andreas_aamodt_2015_.pdf |
| affects_and_quality_of_life_last_week.pdf |
| affect_consciousness_interview_one_affect.pdf |
| stolorow_2012._what_is_character_and_how_does_it_change__mutual_validation_by_stolorow_and_aamodt.pdf |
| kelly_-_primer_of_affect_psychology.pdf |
Experience and research on the Affect Consciousness Model
I have treated hundreds of patients with most kinds of mental disorders in psychiatric hospitals, community residential centers, outpatient clinics, and at an ambulant unit for severe mental disorders by using the Affect Consciousness Psychotherapy model. With colleagues, I have taught, supervised, and initiated various projects at the Southern Norway General Hospital to improve the understanding and treatment of patients with especially severe personality disorders and enduring psychosis by focusing on affect integration. In collaboration with Dr. Monsen, I have initiated educational projects on affect-focused treatments. I have taught and supervised personnel of several psychiatric wards and at several residential homes to promote good practice for mental health care focusing on affect integration for patients with severe psychosis and schizophrenic disorders.
I will mention that Jon Monsen and colleagues did a scientific study of 25 individuals with severe personality disorders. 76 % of the patients reached psychosocial and adaption levels defined as «wellness» after a mean treatment duration of 25 months, which may still be the best results documented in any outcome study for this patient group (Monsen & Monsen 1999; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015). Kirsti Monsen studied patients with chronic pain disorders and demonstrated extraordinary results. Monsen and our group have been planning more projects focused on affect integration, mental health, and mental health care based at the Southern Norway General Hospital.
I am grateful for the learning, supervision, collaboration, and encouragement I have received from Dr. Jon T. Monsen at the University of Oslo & Institute for Affect Theory and Psychotherapy (IATP) over the years. I am also grateful for working with many inspiring colleagues and patients at Southern Norway General Hospital and Southern Norway Trauma Center. I am happy to be a certified psychotherapy teacher at The Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy.
I thank Jon T. Monsen at the University of Oslo & Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy, Donald Nathanson and Vick Kelly at Tomkins Institute, Robert D. Stolorow at UCLA & Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Mary Lamia at The Wright Institute, Nicole Fegley at Integral Institute & Boulder Integral, and Jackie Bergman for helpful comments to my English presentations. I am a member of the Tomkins Institute, where we can find more resources on Affect Script Psychology ( http://www.tomkins.org )
You can reach me by sending mail to:
[email protected]
I will mention that Jon Monsen and colleagues did a scientific study of 25 individuals with severe personality disorders. 76 % of the patients reached psychosocial and adaption levels defined as «wellness» after a mean treatment duration of 25 months, which may still be the best results documented in any outcome study for this patient group (Monsen & Monsen 1999; Aamodt, Monsen & Solbakken, 2015). Kirsti Monsen studied patients with chronic pain disorders and demonstrated extraordinary results. Monsen and our group have been planning more projects focused on affect integration, mental health, and mental health care based at the Southern Norway General Hospital.
I am grateful for the learning, supervision, collaboration, and encouragement I have received from Dr. Jon T. Monsen at the University of Oslo & Institute for Affect Theory and Psychotherapy (IATP) over the years. I am also grateful for working with many inspiring colleagues and patients at Southern Norway General Hospital and Southern Norway Trauma Center. I am happy to be a certified psychotherapy teacher at The Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy.
I thank Jon T. Monsen at the University of Oslo & Institute of Affect Theory and Psychotherapy, Donald Nathanson and Vick Kelly at Tomkins Institute, Robert D. Stolorow at UCLA & Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Mary Lamia at The Wright Institute, Nicole Fegley at Integral Institute & Boulder Integral, and Jackie Bergman for helpful comments to my English presentations. I am a member of the Tomkins Institute, where we can find more resources on Affect Script Psychology ( http://www.tomkins.org )
You can reach me by sending mail to:
[email protected]
Serious clinical and academic psychology presented in a different way
Since we all need Affect Consciousness to live good and meaningful lives, I have made some songs to promote this understanding. The songs are based on Silvan Tomkins’s Affect Script Psychology as utilized in Jon Monsen’s Affect Consciousness Therapy Model. The sequence of the affects, feelings, and emotions is according to Monsen’s so-called Affect Consciousness Interview. We go through all the affects if you listen to the songs below. Live with passion and compassion :-)
The songs are here because affect consciousness, love, and humor can be helpful for all people. We are dealing with serious psychology in a humoristic and musically amateurish way here. We call ourselves The Mind Expanders because we don’t want to be shrinks :-). Linda Dahl, Heidi Mykjåland, and Erik Fjermedal are joining my mission to promote emotional understanding and care to as many people as we can reach
The first song is dedicated to the human need for compassion, understanding, care, and support to help us integrate and regulate tricky affects, feelings, and emotions. The second song can hopefully inspire us to train to understand and handle affects, feelings, and emotions better. We need wisdom, love, and compassion to find our place under the sun, especially when undergoing difficult or tragic situations. Affect-conscious therapy promotes life.
Click once on the videos if you want to explore this alternative attempt
to bring light and warmth to affects, feelings, and emotions.
The songs are here because affect consciousness, love, and humor can be helpful for all people. We are dealing with serious psychology in a humoristic and musically amateurish way here. We call ourselves The Mind Expanders because we don’t want to be shrinks :-). Linda Dahl, Heidi Mykjåland, and Erik Fjermedal are joining my mission to promote emotional understanding and care to as many people as we can reach
The first song is dedicated to the human need for compassion, understanding, care, and support to help us integrate and regulate tricky affects, feelings, and emotions. The second song can hopefully inspire us to train to understand and handle affects, feelings, and emotions better. We need wisdom, love, and compassion to find our place under the sun, especially when undergoing difficult or tragic situations. Affect-conscious therapy promotes life.
Click once on the videos if you want to explore this alternative attempt
to bring light and warmth to affects, feelings, and emotions.
