An Academic Critique of Industrialized Trauma Trainings
Dr. Adam O’Brien’s Philosophical Challenge to EMDR, Brainspotting, and Psychedelic Therapy Through the Lens of the Wounded Healers Institute
I. Introduction: The Crisis of Standardization in Trauma Resolution
1.1. Background of Dr. Adam O’Brien and the Wounded Healers Institute (WHI)
Dr. Adam O’Brien, a specialist holding a PhD in Addiction Studies and serving as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and Credentialed Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC), has established himself as a leading authority in trauma, dissociation, and addiction.[1, 2] His extensive clinical background includes serving as an addictions clinician and trauma clinician, providing counseling, group facilitation (including Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, MBCT, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, DBT), and program development in diverse settings.[3] Dr. O’Brien’s expertise is notably deep in areas of complex trauma, dissociation, preverbal, intergenerational, and historical trauma, and he is proficient in multiple trauma resolution modalities, including Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Brainspotting (BSP), Progressive Counting (PC), Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), Meditation, and Psychedelic Integration.[1, 4]
Driven by this broad clinical experience and academic design, Dr. O’Brien founded the Wounded Healers Institute (WHI).[2, 5] The Institute’s purpose is fundamentally centered on redefining the healing journey for both clients and clinicians, emphasizing the intrinsic connection between the body and the mind.[5] This foundation for the WHI was laid through his doctoral dissertation, which explored the unconscious lived experience of trauma, dissociation, and addiction. The WHI is thus positioned as a direct, principled response to perceived deficiencies within the standardized, industrialized system of mental healthcare.[5, 6]
1.2. Establishing the Core Philosophical Conflict: Quantitative Bias vs. Qualitative Lived Experience
The inception of the WHI stems from a critical philosophical stance concerning the prevailing quantitative bias in modern psychology.[7] Dr. O’Brien maintains that professional organizations exhibit an overreliance on quantitative metrics and standardized protocols, often leading to the marginalization or outright dismissal of qualitative, somatic, and existential approaches.[7] This bias manifests as an erosion of public trust and creates systemic conflict within the healing professions.
The most provocative dimension of Dr. O’Brien’s analysis is his “Systemic Pathology Thesis.” He asserts that professional organizations are driven by “undiagnosed and unacknowledged addictions” to concepts traditionally viewed as positive, such as perfectionism, altruism, and ambition.[7] These “positive pathologies” compel rigid adherence to standardization and intense gatekeeping practices. In this view, the organizational structures themselves become “sick” and “addicted,” prioritizing power and control over moral responsibility and the authenticity of lived experience.[7, 8] Consequently, the battles over modality efficacy (such as the historical debates surrounding EMDR [9] or the “pseudoscience” labeling of Brainspotting [7]) are recast not as purely scientific disagreements, but as manifestations of underlying organizational neurosis struggling to maintain proprietary control. This intellectual framework establishes that adhering to standardized training becomes not just a matter of clinical preference, but a profound moral and ethical compromise for the practitioner who recognizes the deeper systemic issues.[6]
1.3. Thesis Statement and Overview of the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM)
The theoretical cornerstone of the WHI is the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM).[6] This model operationally defines key psychological concepts, postulating that the body is the psychological unconscious, and memory itself physically becomes part of us.[5, 8] Crucially, the ADM asserts that addiction is a dissociative response, and furthermore, dissociation is inherently an unconscious healing state—one that endogenous psychedelic states naturally produce.[5, 10]
The ADM fundamentally reframes clinical practice by shifting the focus from pathologizing dissociation to recognizing it as a vital, adaptive mechanism.[5] This paradigm shift necessitates a specialized educational method, which Dr. O’Brien codified as the Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH).[6] The PWH is a comprehensive, dissociation-focused phase model designed for both personal and professional development, ensuring that clinicians are trained to utilize, rather than suppress, dissociative states in the process of trauma resolution.[6, 11]
II. The Philosophical Foundation of the Critique: The Dual Attention Thesis
2.1. Reconceptualizing Evidence-Based Practice (EBP): Meditation and Memory Reconsolidation (MR) as Universal Mechanisms
A central element of Dr. O’Brien’s critique is the redefinition of what constitutes “evidence-based practice.” He argues that all effective therapeutic approaches, including established modalities like EMDR and more novel ones like Brainspotting, are ultimately derivatives of mindfulness meditation.[7] This is not merely a statement about technique similarity; it is a claim about mechanism.
The underlying, universal mechanism for psychological healing is the cultivation of a dual attention state, which facilitates Memory Reconsolidation (MR).[7] This physiological process is innate to the human experience. Research has indicated that disparate techniques—EMDR, Brainspotting (BSP), and even Body-Scan Meditation (BSM)—show beneficial effects in processing distressing memories, even in single-session interventions.[12] While EMDR is conventionally understood through the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model [13], and BSP relies on accessing specific ‘brainspots’ [13] and the newly presented Neuroexperiential Model by Dr David Grand in 2021 (HERE), Dr. O’Brien’s framework asserts that these proprietary methods are simply different delivery systems for the same core mechanism: dual attention leading to MR. They both deserve their rights as unique trademarkable and scientific finds, but from a transdiagnostic lens, meditation is the OG transdiagnostic healing state of consciousness.
This conceptual shift carries profound implications. If the core mechanism is universal and innate, then organizations that mandate specific, proprietary techniques (such as mandated eye movements in EMDR, which critics suggest may not be a necessary component [9]) for consultation and certification are fundamentally commodifying an intrinsic human capacity for self-healing. This intellectual maneuver provides the rigorous academic justification for dismissing the necessity of expensive, branded trainings, thereby framing the organizational credentialing structures as arbitrary gatekeeping rituals rather than essential clinical requirements.
2.2. The Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM): The Unconscious as the Body
The ADM provides the clinical language for this philosophical re-centering. It posits that the physical body itself constitutes the psychological unconscious.[8] Trauma and memory are held physically, and the body holds the “score/truth” and serves as a source of unconscious wisdom.[8] Furthermore, dissociation is defined as a capacity for self-healing, often mirrored by endogenous psychedelic states.[5] This depth psychology perspective resonates with Jungian concepts [14], positioning the WHI’s work as a revolutionary approach that challenges the mechanistic, symptom-focused psychology prevalent in standardized training.[14] The central clinical question driving this framework is, “What is dissociation like for you?”, which led to the creation of the Meeting Area Screening and Assessment (MASA) protocol.[5]
To visualize this intellectual divergence from conventional therapeutic models, a comparative analysis of foundational healing mechanisms is provided:
Table 1: Comparative Analysis of Foundational Healing Mechanisms
| Therapeutic Modality | Conventional Primary Mechanism | WHI Foundational Mechanism (Dr. Adam’s Thesis) | Source of Authority |
| EMDR | Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model [13] | Dual Attention State / Memory Reconsolidation (MR) [7] | Structured Protocol/EMDRIA Certification [15] |
| Brainspotting (BSP) | Brain’s capacity to heal via ‘brainspots’ [13] | Dual Attention State / Memory Reconsolidation (MR) [7] | Therapist’s Attunement/BSP Certification [16] |
| Psychedelic Therapy | Pharmacological activation/Neuroplasticity | Endogenous Psychedelic States / Unconscious Healing [5] | Experiential Lived Wisdom/Underground Practice [17, 18] |
III. Critique of Established Trauma Modalities and Organizational Gatekeeping
3.1. EMDR Training: Protocol Rigidity and the Suppression of the Innate Mechanism
Dr. O’Brien’s background as an EMDR consultant and specialist in intensive trauma resolution sessions [1] grants him internal authority to critique the modality’s training structure. While EMDR is recognized globally as an effective intervention for trauma [15, 19], standardized training often emphasizes strict adherence to the eight-phase model, leading to protocol rigidity.[15]
This standardization presents a significant clinical deficit when dealing with complex trauma and highly dissociative clients. The academic literature already acknowledges the persistent intellectual and emotional demands placed on psychology trainees attempting to implement manualized, evidence-based interventions (EBIs).[20, 21] For clients prone to dissociation, the structure of EMDR can, at times, feel less safe or may fail to adequately address the deep internal signaling required for successful processing.[22] The ADM, which views dissociation as adaptive, directly contradicts the implicit need in many standard EMDR protocols to manage or eliminate dissociation quickly. Dr. O’Brien’s focus shifted toward offering specialty groups dedicated to the “Addiction as Dissociation EMDR Group Consultation”.[23] This specialization demonstrates his commitment to enhancing training by addressing the clinical complexities—namely, severe dissociation—that standard curricula often neglect, confirming the perceived deficiencies of mainstream EMDR training for complex cases.
3.2. Brainspotting (BSP) Training: Exclusionary Practices and the Battle Against Pseudoscience Labeling
Dr. O’Brien was deeply affiliated with Brainspotting, holding credentials as an Approved Brainspotting Consultant and Certified Therapist.[1, 24] He actively engaged in the defense of the modality when it was criticized as “pseudoscience” based on American Psychological Association (APA) quantitative standards.[7] He views this quantitative bias as systemic pathology, asserting that the act of labeling a modality as “pseudoscience” is driven by organizational gatekeeping rather than neutral science.[7]
However, despite his philosophical support for BSP, Dr. O’Brien chose to allow his BSP Consultant and Certified Therapist credentials to expire in 2025.[23, 25] This professional reckoning was highly likely precipitated by a conflict over the lack of psychedelic integration and practice flexibility. Dr. O’Brien explicitly integrates trauma resolution techniques with psychedelic care, harm reduction, and neurofeedback.[1, 4, 26] The direct integration of cannabis—a dissociative and endogenous psychedelic-like tool—into a BSP framework appears to have conflicted with the standards or exclusionary policies of the Brainspotting organizational authority.
For Dr. O’Brien, this situation crystallized the shortcomings of industrialized training: organizational gatekeeping, driven by fear of legal-ethics and loss of control, limits the moral and clinical utility of modalities by prohibiting the use of necessary healing tools, regardless of clinical efficacy or moral justification.[6, 28] His subsequent disaffiliation serves as a powerful professional statement against institutional constraints on clinical judgment and the need for independent researchers.
3.3. The Professional Reckoning: The Rationale for Credential Expiration (2025)
The decision to allow Approved Brainspotting Consultant and Certified Therapist credentials to expire in 2025 [23, 25] is a critical action that grounds Dr. O’Brien’s intellectual critique in professional practice. He rejects organizational affiliation precisely because his authority is fundamentally derived from “lived experience” and “moral integrity,” which he juxtaposes against the industrialized system’s rigid reliance on external, academic authority.[29] Increasing ethical standards and the amount of laws is like making a stronger fentanyl, when what we have is enough and if good laws are made to being with, then more is not the answer; it’s the drug that leads one to addiction.
Maintaining these certifications would require continued adherence to the “legal-ethics” of standardized protocol and the exclusion of tools or approaches deemed unacceptable by the governing organizations. By allowing the credentials to lapse, Dr. O’Brien effectively transforms his intellectual challenge into an ethical manifestation of the Wounded Healer paradigm. This action establishes that the cost of professional compliance—compromising his moral responsibility to incorporate all available tools for healing—outweighed the value of the credential itself.[6] The expiration signals a transition from being a certified practitioner within a system to becoming a self-identified “Healer” operating outside and in moral contrast to that system.[29]
IV. The Ethical and Moral Imperative: The Wounded Healer Paradigm
4.1. The Primacy of Moral-Ethics over Legal-Ethics in Clinical Authority
The Wounded Healers Institute paradigm is defined by a guiding ethos that prioritizes Moral-Ethics over Legal-Ethics.[6] This distinction is crucial: “ethics” typically refers to professional guidelines and standards, while “morals” guide action in all contexts.[30] By prioritizing moral authority, the WHI asserts that the clinician’s true capacity to heal stems from an internal, self-examined morality derived from personal suffering and transformation, which is the definition of the Wounded Healer archetype.[6, 31]
This approach rejects the typical professional expectation of value bracketing, where a therapist is advised to separate private values and morality from professional conduct.[32] The Wounded Healer, by contrast, integrates their own processed emotional wounds and recovery journey directly into their clinical capacity, enhancing empathy and connection.[31] Dr. O’Brien views the Healer’s authority as internal and moral, directly contrasting it with the conventional therapist, whose authority is often external, legal, and bureaucratic.[6]
The Healer’s primary role is to “undiagnose,” looking beyond pathologizing labels to identify the true source of suffering, which is often rooted in “existential, spiritual, and moral betrayal wounds”.[6] Furthermore, the Healer’s goal is to facilitate a profound transformation that prepares the client for “the totality of life, including its inevitable end,” introducing a deep, existential dimension to trauma work that is often absent in standardized training.[6]
4.2. Identifying Systemic Pathology: Standardization as Professional Iatrogenesis
Dr. O’Brien extends his critique to argue that industrialized training, characterized by standardization and rigid gatekeeping, actively creates professional iatrogenesis. The intense intellectual and emotional demands placed on trainees learning multiple, sometimes conflicting, manualized approaches (like the dual training in CBT and psychodynamic therapy described in similar programs [20]) can be overwhelming.
The WHI argues that the system itself is pathologically addicted and dissociated; the standards it imposes are merely an expression of this internal sickness.[8] Standardization is viewed as a mechanism of “trauma” for clinicians, enforcing a “separate but not equal” framework of abusive power dynamics.[6] By labeling the quantitative definition of “normal” as qualitatively abnormal [8], Dr. O’Brien positions the WHI not just as an alternative training model, but as a necessary systemic countermeasure—a program designed to help clinicians detoxify from the emotional and moral toll of institutional training while leveraging their personal healing for professional impact.[5]
V. The Critique of Emerging Psychedelic Training and Integration
5.1. Psychedelic Therapy Training: The Conflict Between Healing and Regulation
The emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PaT) presents a new frontier for Dr. O’Brien’s critique of standardization. He argues vehemently that the prohibition and over-regulation of psychedelics constitute a historical and abusive “war on healing and citizens”.[28] He asserts that existing science, dating back to FDA studies in 1994, has already affirmed the medical or psychological value of these substances, making the continuation of legal prohibition clinically immature and logically inconsistent.[28]
As PaT moves from underground practice into regulated settings, concerns arise about the impending standardization. Many experienced underground providers, whose work is motivated by personal healing and altruism [18], fear that regulated training (such as certificate programs designed for licensed clinicians and unlicensed facilitators [33]) will strip the practice of its flexibility and depersonalize the experience.[18]
For Dr. O’Brien, whose ADM asserts that endogenous psychedelic states are the ultimate unconscious healing state [5], training must prioritize the deep experiential wisdom of the practitioner.[29] The movement toward mechanistic standardization in PT risks applying the same quantitative bias that plagued EMDR and BSP, potentially missing the profound spiritual and existential dimensions that facilitate true healing.[6] Training, therefore, must focus on the experiential component—exposure to nonordinary states of consciousness (NOSC)—to enhance therapist competency, a highly debated topic in the field.[17] The WHI implicitly supports the perspective that firsthand experience is crucial for guiding others through powerful processing and integration.[17, 24]
5.2. The WHI Approach to Psychedelic Care: Integration into the PWH Model
The Wounded Healers Institute integrates psychedelic care not as a standalone pharmacological intervention, but as an advanced tool within its comprehensive Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) phase model.[34] The curriculum includes dedicated PWH training focused on Psychedelic Care, Clinical Dissociation and Addiction Disorders, and Advanced Aspects of Dissociative and Addiction Memory.[34] After treating ketamine traumas for the last 13 years, Dr. Adam offers the MASA to minimize this potential.
The integration of cannabis support and psychedelic integration services into Dr. O’Brien’s practice [1, 26] confirms his commitment to treating altered states of consciousness as a valid and potentially powerful component of trauma resolution. By framing psychedelic care within the ADM—where dissociation is viewed as adaptive and part of the post-traumatic growth (PTG) process [5, 34]—the WHI legitimizes the deep, altered states inherent to the experience. This framework ensures that WHI practitioners are specifically trained to navigate the multi-dimensional and “multiplicity of self” experiences commonly encountered in complex trauma and high-dose psychedelic work.[5, 24] The PWH structure, with its focus on “Dissociative Lands” and “Recovery Memory Network” [34], is explicitly designed to handle the complexity and depth required for true psychedelic integration.
VI. The Wounded Healers Institute (WHI) Educational Solution: The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH)
6.1. PWH Model Structure: A Dissociation-Focused Phase Approach
The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) model is the educational application of the ADM, structured as a systematic, evidence-informed phase model of care for normative and pathological trauma, dissociation, and addiction.[6, 34] It is designed for both the personal journey of the clinician and the professional application with clients.[6]
The most profound paradigm shift occurs in the initial phase: PWH 1: Regulation and qEEG analysis. This phase focuses heavily on establishing internal stability and regulation through states of dissociation.[11] By valuing dissociation as a protective and adaptive mechanism, the model diverges sharply from conventional trauma therapies that often seek to immediately diminish or stabilize dissociative states.
The PWH curriculum is multi-faceted, incorporating elements often segregated in conventional training.[34] It includes the utilization of the MASA (Mindfulness, Awareness, Self-compassion, and Action) protocol [5, 34], alongside breath exercises, skill building, resiliency training, and ceremonial aspects.[34] Advanced PWH topics include memory work, post-traumatic growth (PTG), and accessing Dissociative Lands.[34] This integrated structure successfully combines “evidence-informed” clinical phase work with spiritual and moral development, fulfilling the archetypal journey of the wounded healer—transforming personal suffering into clinical wisdom.[31] The PWH model thus acts as a blueprint for producing professionals who are philosophically grounded, clinically proficient in EBT integration (PWH 4, which includes EBT Consultation), and morally resilient.
6.2. The Professional Outcome: The Healer as a Moral Authority
The WHI’s educational goal is to empower individuals to transform their past pain into recognized, employable skills, turning lived experience into a source of professional healing.[35] The PWH model is focused on fostering sustainable well-being for clients and clinicians alike, leveraging personal healing to create a profound professional impact.[5] As argued in his paper (Legalized Psychological Experts), The last thing we need is legalized psychological experts because they don’t even know their own research to know what that means and what it implies.
The WHI produces a professional outcome where the “Healer” operates as a moral authority.[6] Unlike the industrialized therapist who may be constrained by liability and standardized practice, the Healer is prepared to guide a client through a profound transformation that addresses existential wounds and prepares them for the entirety of life.[6] By combining trauma-focused care with positive psychology and spiritual integration [26], the WHI provides a comprehensive, integrated approach designed for profound, long-term well-being that bypasses the limitations imposed by institutional gatekeeping.
The necessity of the WHI paradigm can be summarized by contrasting its core tenets against the industrialized model it critiques:
Table 2: Comparison of Professional Training Paradigms
| Dimension | Industrialized Professional Training (Conventional) | Wounded Healers Institute (WHI) Paradigm | WHI Foundational Principle |
| Guiding Ethos | Legal-Ethics (Standardization, Compliance) [6, 30] | Moral-Ethics (Integrity, Responsibility to Suffering) [6] | The Healer as a Moral Authority [6] |
| Source of Authority | Professional Credentials, Quantitative Evidence (APA standards) [7, 29] | Lived Experience, Moral and Internal Wisdom (“Healer”) [29] | The Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) [31] |
| View of Dissociation | Pathology requiring stabilization/control | Unconscious Healing State / Adaptive Response [5, 11] | Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) [6] |
| Organizational Pathology | Efficiency, Rigor, Consistency | Addiction to Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition (Gatekeeping) [7] | Challenge to Industrialized Systems [6, 8] |
| Departure Action | Retaining and valuing consultant status | Allowing EMDR/BSP credentials to expire (2025) [23, 25] | Moral Integrity over Professional Status [29] |
VII. Conclusion and Implications for Future Clinical Education
Dr. Adam O’Brien’s critique of EMDR, Brainspotting, and emerging Psychedelic Therapy trainings is not an attack on the efficacy of these modalities, but a sophisticated, multifaceted rejection of the organizational structures that govern them. His core argument is unified: since the effective mechanism of healing—Memory Reconsolidation via the dual attention state—is universal and innate, the proprietary training required by professional organizations constitutes systemic pathology driven by the addiction to control and standardization.[7] His professional decision to allow his Brainspotting Consultant credentials to expire in 2025 serves as a non-negotiable ethical assertion that moral integrity and clinical flexibility must supersede the demands of “legal-ethics” and organizational gatekeeping and profiteering. [6, 23, 25]
The creation of the Wounded Healers Institute (WHI) and its Path of the Wounded Healer (PWH) framework is the direct educational solution to this perceived crisis. The WHI offers a paradigm grounded in the Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM), which provides a revolutionary interpretation of trauma and addiction, framing dissociation as a necessary, adaptive healing state.[5, 6] By shifting the focus to Moral-Ethics and centering training on the clinician’s lived experience, the WHI prepares practitioners to be Healers—moral authorities equipped to navigate the complexity of human suffering, including multiplicity of self and non-ordinary states of consciousness, which standardized programs often fail to address adequately.[5, 6]
Ultimately, the WHI offers critical insight into the future of mental health training. It advocates for the integration of the Wounded Healer concept into mainstream education, promoting open dialogue about therapist vulnerability, enhancing empathy, and validating the constructive use of personal experiences in clinical work.[31] By prioritizing moral authority and qualitative experience, Dr. O’Brien’s work demonstrates that effective trauma resolution requires moving beyond mechanized, standardized metrics toward a deep, integrated philosophy of human consciousness and intrinsic healing capacity.
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1. Adam O’Brien – The Institute for Creative Mindfulness, https://www.instituteforcreativemindfulness.com/directory/adam-obrien/
3. Adam O’Brien Résumé 2025 – Wounded Healers Institute, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Adam-OBrien-Resume-2025.pdf
4. Adam O’Brien, Counselor, Chatham, NY, 12037 | Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/adam-o-brien-chatham-ny/241857
5. Dr. Adam – WHI – Wounded Healers Institute, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/about/dr-adam/
6. The Healer’s Moral-Ethical Paradigm vs. Industrialized Professional Training – WHI, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/the-healers-moral-ethical-paradigm-vs-industrialized-professional-training/
7. Brainspotting is not a “Pseudoscience” and the Emergence of a New Healing Paradigm, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/brainspotting-is-not-a-pseudoscience-and-the-emergence-of-a-new-healing-paradigm/
8. The Unprovable Truths of Healing: A Wounded Healers’ Inquiry into Pseudoscience, Trauma, and the Limits of Logic – WHI, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/the-unprovable-truths-of-healing-a-wounded-healers-inquiry-into-pseudoscience-trauma-and-the-limits-of-logic/
9. Understanding the Criticism of EMDR – Trauma Therapist Institute, https://www.traumatherapistinstitute.com/blog/Understanding-the-Criticism-of-EMDR
10. Addiction as dissociation model (The Institute for Creative Mindfulness) – EMDRIA.com, https://www.emdria.org/resource/addiction-as-dissociation-model-the-institute-for-creative-mindfulness/
12. Psychotherapeutic Techniques for Distressing Memories: A Comparative Study between EMDR, Brainspotting, and Body Scan Meditation – MDPI, https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1142/review_report
13. Brainspotting vs EMDR Therapy: A Comparative Analysis, https://turboemdr.com/brainspotting-vs-emdr-therapy-bsp/
14. Jungian Therapy and Depth Psychology Articles, https://gettherapybirmingham.com/category/jungian-concepts/
15. EMDR vs. Brainspotting: A Detailed Comparative Study – Shoreside Therapies, https://shoresidetherapies.com/staff/emdr-vs-brainspotting-a-detailed-comparative-study
16. 7 Key Signs: Is Brainspotting a Hoax or Not? | Elephant In The Room LLC, https://www.elephantintheroomllc.com/blog/7-key-signs-is-brainspotting-a-hoax-or-not
17. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Training: An Argument in Support of Firsthand Experience of Nonordinary States of Consciousness in the Development of Competence – NIH, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11658659/
18. Understanding Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Providers’ Perspective and Insights: A Qualitative Analysis – PMC – PubMed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11658670/
19. Revisiting Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review and Discussion of the American Psychological Association’s 2017 Recommendations – PubMed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11111257/
20. Y Model Psychotherapy Training: A Qualitative Investigation of Students’ Experiences, https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20180005
21. Therapist training in evidence-based interventions for mental health: A systematic review of training approaches and outcomes – NIH, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8174802/
22. EMDR vs Brainspotting: Differences, Effectiveness & When to Use – Online CE Credits, https://onlinececredits.com/emdr-vs-brainspotting-therapy/
23. EMDR Consulting – Mutual Arising Mental Health Counseling, https://mutualarisingcounseling.org/training/emdr-consulting/
24. Addiction as Dissociation (with Dr Adam O’Brien) – Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/addiction-as-dissociation-with-dr-adam-obrien/id1580294433?i=1000679734679&l=vi
25. Brainspotting Consulting – WHI – Wounded Healers Institute, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/bsp-consulting/
26. Wounded Healers Institute, Albany, NY, 12210 – Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/wounded-healers-institute-albany-ny/1097586
27. Untitled, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/brainspotting-and-cannabis-education-and-training-announcements-and-updates/
28. The Psychedelic Renaissance: Healing or Heresy? – WHI – Wounded Healers Institute, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/the-psychedelic-renaissance-healing-or-heresy/
29. Diagnostic Privilege: The Unseen Power Play – WHI – Wounded Healers Institute, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/diagnostic-privilege-the-unseen-power-play/
30. Moral Good Versus Moral and Ethical Duty in Mental Health Practice: Shoulds, Shalls, and What-Ifs – Article 97 – Continued.com, https://www.continued.com/counseling/articles/moral-good-versus-and-ethical-97
31. Full article: The wounded healer: exploring the role of therapists’ emotional woundedness in facilitating patients’ corrective emotional experiences, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09515070.2025.2580276
32. Balancing Value Bracketing with the Integration of Moral Values in Psychotherapy: Evaluation of a Clinical Practice from the Perspective of Catholic Moral Theology – NIH, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6699052/
33. Certificate in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies & Research | CIIS, https://www.ciis.edu/research-centers-and-initiatives/center-for-psychedelic-therapies-and-research/about-the-certificate
34. Path of the Wounded Healer – WHI, https://woundedhealersinstitute.org/path-of-the-wounded-healer/
35. City Vision’s Wounded Healers Program | RescueMissionCurriculum.org, https://www.rescuemissioncurriculum.org/curriculum/rescue-mission-intern-orientation/
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References
O’Brien, A. (2023a). Addiction as Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Phenomenological Investigation of the Addictive State. International University of Graduate Studies. (Dissertation). Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023b). Memory Reconsolidation in Psychedelics Therapy. In Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/courses/addiction-as-dissociation-model-course/
O’Brien, A. (2023c). Path of the Wounded Healer: A Dissociative-Focused Phase Model for Normative and Pathological States of Consciousness: Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024a). Healer and Healing: The re-education of the healer and healing professions as an advocation. Re-educational and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2024e). Path of the Wounded Healers for Thrivers: Perfectionism, Altruism, and Ambition Addictions; Re-education and training manual for Abusers, Activists, Batterers, Bullies, Enablers, Killers, Narcissists, Offenders, Parents, Perpetrators, and Warriors. Re-Education and Training Manual and Guide. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
O’Brien, A. (2025). American Made Addiction Recovery: a healer’s journey through professional recovery. Albany, NY: Wounded Healers Institute. Retrieved at woundedhealersinstitute.org/
*This is for informational and educational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
