The Early Memories Procedure as an Assessment and Therapy Tool that Fosters Therapeutic Change
The Early Memories Procedure (EMP, Bruhn, 1992) is an effective and time efficient assessment technique that can be used both during a psychological evaluation or in the course of therapy to explore the significant issues in the psychological landscape of the clients (Bruhn, 1990). According to the Cognitive- Perceptual theory (Bruhn, 1992), the early memories produced during the EMP can be viewed as the result of a creative process within the individual with the goal of reminding the self what work is most pressing. The memories that the client deems as the most negative and clear are believed to represent what Gestalt theory calls “unfinished business”, or sources of current internal conflict and pain. Memories that are evaluated as most positive and clear contain important information about the clients’ coping strategies and situations when their emotional needs were met. Issues around intimacy, need for support, and emotion regulation are often part of the “pressing work” that can be successfully explored during the EMP and that is often at the core of the clients’ struggles.
The presenter will illustrate the use of the EMP with a clinical case and describe strategies that clinicians can employ to examine different aspects of the early memories. Further, the presenter will highlight the power of the EMP as a tool to foster clients’ self-understanding and to help them create more self-compassionate narratives, thus fostering therapeutic change.
Presenter: Dr. Serena Messina
Learning Objectives:
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To demonstrate how the Early Memory Procedure is an efficient and versatile instrument, that can be used both in the contest of a psychological assessment and in the context of therapeutic treatment
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To illustrate specific techniques that can be used to examine the early memories produced during the EMP and to make hypothesis about the clients’ emotional functioning
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To describe how the EMP process fosters clients’ insights into their emotional history and promote a more compassionate narrative about the self
Skill Level: All levels are welcomed
The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. SPA maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Society for Personality Assessment is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0218.
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Member Registration
Presenter: Dr. Serena Messina |
FREE |
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Non-Member Student Registration
Presenter: Dr. Serena Messina |
$39.00 |
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Non-Member Early Career Registration
Presenter: Dr. Serena Messina |
$45.00 |
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Non-Member Registration
Presenter: Dr. Serena Messina |
$50.00 |
Dr. Serena Messina is a licensed psychologist in Austin, Texas, who offers Therapeutic Assessment and therapy with children, adolescents, families, and adults. Dr. Messina provides therapy and assessment services in English, Spanish, and Italian. She completed two doctoral programs, one at "Sapienza" University of Rome in clinical psychology and the other one at The University of Texas at Austin in school psychology (child clinical track). In the course of her doctoral programs, she developed extensive expertise on attachment theory and was trained in the Adult Attachment Interview by Dr. Deborah Jacobvitz. Dr. Messina is trained to administer and reliably code the Adult Attachment Interview, the Reflective Function System, and the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task. Further, Dr. Messina gained significant experience in counseling, consultation, and assessment in public schools, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and mental health community agencies, particularly serving ethnically and culturally diverse clients.
Before starting her private practice, Dr. Messina has been a lecturer and visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, where she taught Child Development and Developmental Psychopathology classes. Dr. Messina holds a level 2 certification in Therapeutic Assessment in the Child, Adolescent, and Adult models. She has published peer-reviewed articles and chapters about attachment, psychopathology, assessment, and trauma. She is also versed in the Early Memories Procedure and uses this test with clients in therapy and during Therapeutic Assessments. Dr. Messina gave presentations on the use of the Early Memories Procedure and recently published an article about this area of work (Messina, 2024).
Messina, S. (2024). Superman will save me: Working on Attachment and Social Anxiety through the Early Memories Procedure. The TA Connection, 12(1), 8-15.
Neff, K. D. (2023). Self-Compassion: Theory, Method, Research, and Intervention. Annual Review of Psychology, 74:193-217
Santas. D. (2023). Why have I always wanted to be dead? When did it start? Using the Early Memories Procedure in a Collaborative Therapeutic Assessment of a Chronically Suicidal Young Woman Who "F.ailed" Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. The TA Connection, 11(1), 20-27.
Finn, S. E. (2023). From unresolved to earned secure attachment: The AAP as a powerful clinical tool in psychotherapy. In George, C., Wargo Aikens, J., & Lehmann, M. (Eds), Clinical application of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (pp. 97-109). Routledge.
David, R. M., Carroll, A. J. & Smith, J. D. (2022). Virtual delivery of Therapeutic Assessment: An empirical case study. Journal of Personality Assessment, 104(3), 417-427. DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2021.1929262
Cradock O’Leary, J., Kelley, D., & Parrish, C. (2020). From swallowing to savoring emotions: A Therapeutic Assessment using the Thurston Cradock Test of Shame as an assessment intervention. Rorschachiana, 41(2), 181-199.
Cradock O’Leary, J., Nakamura, N., & Finn, S. E. (2020). Using the Thurston-Cradock Test of Shame as a crucial “empathy magnifier.” Rorschachiana, 41(2), 144-161.
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