Guide XII-040

Advanced Integrative Therapy

Asha Clinton1999
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Advanced Integrative Therapy (AIT) as developed by Asha Clinton (MSW, PhD) and taught in the AIT Basics seminar, using Clinton's own encyclopedia entry (2015) for theory and the published learning objectives of the current AIT-sponsored Basics training (taught by Elizabeth Pace, MEd, LPC-S) for the protocol list. Clinton's seminar manuals are not publicly available; protocol steps below come from the published course objectives and from practitioner accounts, and are marked accordingly. [source: Clinton 2015; TPN.health AIT Basics listing; Redington; Rankin]

AIT is an energy-psychology-based trauma therapy that combines psychodynamic, Jungian, attachment, cognitive, transpersonal and body-centred work with an "energetic" trauma-clearing procedure. Clinton developed it in the late 1990s, first under the name "Seemorg Matrix Work"; the first training ran in 1999. [source: Clinton 2015] Its core idea of change: trauma, defined broadly (situational, developmental, ancestral and cultural-historical), is held to be the root of most suffering; recalled or triggered trauma produces painful emotions, body sensations and negative beliefs, desires, compulsions or obsessions; repeated trauma forms "traumatic patterns". Within AIT's model, these after-effects are held as energy and are removed while the client attends to a precisely worded trauma statement and places their hands, in sequence, on energy centres along the body's midline. Negative beliefs are then transformed and positive qualities strengthened, within a reparative therapeutic relationship and supported by meditation. [source: Clinton 2015; Redington; TPN.health AIT Basics listing] Energy and spiritual concepts (energy centres, the "center" of the psyche as a link to the Divine, archetypes, cellular memory) are AIT's own framework and are described here as AIT holds them.

Evidence status (one line): one randomised trial in non-clinical students found AIT comparable to EFT for distress about a single memory, with a six-month follow-up; otherwise case reports and practitioner accounts. [source: Brown et al. 2023; Brown et al. 2024] AIT is a complementary method; it is not a treatment for cancer or any physical disease, whatever claims are made for it in some promotional material (see section 3).

2. Framework

AIT is a structured trauma therapy embedded in an ongoing psychotherapy rather than a fixed-session manual. No published session count exists [uncertain: not verified]. The phases below follow the sequence described by trained practitioners and the Basics course objectives; phase labels are a [synthesis].

Phase A: Assessment, alliance and ego strength. Goals: history, presenting symptoms, current patterns; assess ego strength and strengthen it before the deepest traumas are approached. [source: Redington] Format: ordinary psychotherapy sessions. Move on when the client can tolerate and report distress, return to the present, and has consented to the method including self-touch and muscle testing. [synthesis]

Phase B: Case conceptualisation (the AIT Roadmap). Goals: map present suffering back to earlier traumatic events and patterns, identifying the Originating Trauma (OT), Initiating Trauma (IT) and Connecting Traumas (CT), and the dysfunctional core beliefs formed after early trauma. [source: TPN.health AIT Basics listing] Muscle testing is used collaboratively to search for originating traumas. [source: Redington] Move on when there is an agreed target and a statement that carries the charge.

Phase C: Trauma treatment. Goals: reduce the charge of each targeted trauma and its pattern using the AIT Trauma Protocol, worked in rounds, re-rated after each round, following what emerges next. [source: TPN.health; Rankin] Format: in session; a round is short and several may fit in one session. Move to the next target when the charge on the current statement is at or near zero and re-checking finds no remaining aspect. [source: Rankin; synthesis for the criterion]

Phase D: Belief and quality work. Goals: transform blocking core beliefs (Core Belief Protocol, 3 Step Transformation) and awaken or install positive beliefs, attitudes, desires and qualities (Positive Qualities Protocol). [source: TPN.health; Rankin] Usually after the related trauma has cleared. [synthesis]

Phase E: Self-regulation and consolidation. Goals: teach Quick AIT for self-soothing at home; meditation; integration in the relationship. [source: TPN.health; Clinton 2015]

Advanced seminars apply the method to specific areas (archetypes, "Depths"; anxiety disorders; character structure; attachment; psychogenic illness). [source: Redington; Clinton 2015] Their content is not covered here [uncertain: not verified].

Training and certification route. Training is in three-day seminars; Clinton describes two introductory seminars and 13 advanced seminars; she has created 15 in all. [source: Clinton 2015; ACEP speaker page] Basics is open to qualified mental health professionals [source: Redington]; the current Basics is a 24-CE-hour, three-day course for counsellors, MFTs, social workers and addiction professionals, sponsored by AIT, with practicum in which trainees practise on each other. [source: TPN.health] A 2019 Basics included two sessions of post-training supervision. [source: Rankin AIT page] The certifying body, certification requirements and practitioner directory criteria are not publicly stated [uncertain: not verified]. Practise within your own licence; AIT training is not a licence.

Professional-body positions. No published position on AIT from a psychology, counselling or social-work licensing board was found [uncertain: not verified]. Treat it as a complementary technique within your existing scope; follow your board's rules on informed consent for emerging methods and on touch. [synthesis]

Combining with psychotherapy. AIT practitioners describe the alliance, transference and countertransference and the reparative relationship as as central as in traditional psychotherapy; AIT is positioned as complementary to talking therapy, with talk used to reach the roots of trauma before protocols. [source: Redington; Rankin; Clinton 2015]

Informed consent (cover before Phase B). Explain: AIT is a complementary method; it involves the client speaking short statements about painful experiences while placing their own hands on a sequence of points from the crown of the head down the midline of the body to the base of the spine; it uses manual muscle testing in which the therapist presses lightly on the client's outstretched arm; evidence is limited to one randomised trial and case reports; it does not treat physical disease; the client may stop at any time, decline any touch or hand position, and choose talk-only work. Record consent. [synthesis, built on the descriptions in Redington, Rankin and TPN.health]

3. Guiding principles

  • Trauma is the primary target. Practical meaning: ask "what earlier experience is this repeating?" before treating the present symptom. [source: Clinton 2015; TPN.health]
  • Trauma is defined broadly. Include developmental, ancestral and cultural-historical trauma, not only single events. [source: Clinton 2015; Redington]
  • Treat the pattern, not just the event. Look for the originating trauma and the connecting traumas that repeat it. [source: Clinton 2015; TPN.health]
  • Ego strength before depth. Assess and build ego strength before working on the deepest traumas. [source: Redington]
  • The whole person is interconnected. Notice emotional, bodily, cognitive and spiritual after-effects together; in AIT's model these are linked. [source: Clinton 2015]
  • Precision of the statement. The words must fit the client's experience; the client may change them until they ring true. [source: Rankin]
  • Follow what emerges. After each round ask what came up and usually follow the client's lead. [source: Rankin]
  • Collaborative searching. Therapist and client search together for originating traumas; muscle testing is a shared tool, not a verdict. [source: Redington; synthesis on "not a verdict"]
  • Clear, then build. Remove trauma's after-effects, then transform negative beliefs and strengthen positive qualities. [source: Clinton 2015; TPN.health]
  • The relationship is reparative. Use transference and countertransference; the therapist's attuned presence is part of the treatment. [source: Clinton 2015; Redington]
  • Hold compassionate witnessing space. Stay present and non-intrusive while material surfaces. [source: Rankin AIT page]
  • Gentleness. AIT presents itself as a gentle method; go at the client's pace. [source: TPN.health]
  • Client self-regulation. Teach a short form (Quick AIT) the client can use alone. [source: TPN.health]
  • Attribution, not assertion. Present energy and spiritual concepts as AIT's framework, and never present AIT as a cure for physical illness. Some promotional sources claim AIT relieves physical disease and has been used for cancer, while acknowledging those reports are anecdotal and "not scientifically verified"; do not repeat such claims to clients. [source: Rankin AIT page; synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The detailed steps of each protocol are taught in seminar and are not published. Where sources give only the name and purpose, this is stated and any in-session framing is marked [synthesis]. Do not run protocols you have not been trained in.

4.1 Assessment and ego-strength building

  • Purpose / when: First sessions, and again before any deep or early trauma. AIT practitioners assess ego strength and build it before treating the deepest traumas, including strengthening weak ego states. [source: Redington]
  • Steps: (1) Take a full history: symptoms, relationships, early attachment, losses, family and cultural history, medical history and current medical care. (2) Screen for dissociation, psychosis, active suicidality, substance misuse, current abuse and medical conditions. (3) Assess affect tolerance, capacity to observe inner states, support network and stability. (4) Build resources before trauma work: grounding, the alliance, containment, meditation (4.13). [synthesis for steps 1–4 beyond Redington's principle]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before we go near the hardest memories, I want to make sure you have enough steadiness to come back from them. Let's look at what helps you settle."
  • Watch for: Fragile ego states, dissociative disorders, complex PTSD. A university trial of AIT excluded epilepsy, complex or severe PTSD and a history of intense reactions to triggers [source: UNLV recruitment notice]; these need extra preparation and slower pacing, not single-session work. [synthesis] Working: the client can describe distress and return to the present.

4.2 Informed consent and the AIT Covenant

  • Purpose / when: Before the first protocol. The Covenant is taught in Basics and is described as aligning the client's conscious and unconscious minds toward healing and reducing resistance. [source: Rankin; Rankin AIT page] Its wording and procedure are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Give the consent information in section 2, including self-touch and muscle testing, the right to stop and the evidence status. (2) Agree goals in the client's own words. (3) Introduce the Covenant as trained. (4) Record consent and any touch the client declines. [synthesis for 1, 2, 4]
  • Example language (illustrative): "This method asks you to say short sentences about what happened while you rest your own hands on points down the middle of your body. You can change any words, skip any position, or stop at any time."
  • Watch for: Compliance without real agreement, especially in clients with a history of coercion. Working: the client asks questions and names limits.

4.3 Manual muscle testing (kMMT, "subtle somatic cueing")

  • Purpose / when: Used throughout to locate originating traumas, select the wording of statements and cross-check the client's rating of charge. [source: TPN.health; Redington; Rankin] AIT uses applied-kinesiology manual muscle testing, which the current Basics also calls subtle somatic cueing. [source: TPN.health]
  • Steps (as described by practitioners): The client holds out an arm and makes a statement; the therapist applies light pressure; in AIT's framework, a strong arm is read as "true" and a weak arm as untrue or negatively charged. [source: Redington] Trainees are taught to avoid the pitfalls of testing. [source: Rankin AIT page]
  • Touch and consent: This is therapist touch on the forearm or wrist. Ask before each use; explain where and how you will press; offer a hands-off alternative (the client's own felt sense and 0–10 rating) and honour it without comment. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "May I press lightly on your wrist? Just resist gently. This is one more way of checking; your own sense of it counts just as much."
  • Watch for: Suggestion and therapist expectation shaping the result; the client deferring to the test over their own experience; testing "revealing" abuse or memories the client has no memory of. Never treat a test result as evidence that an event happened, and never use it to confirm abuse allegations. [synthesis] In one practitioner account the client's self-rating was 3 and the test suggested 10 [source: Rankin]; treat such gaps as something to explore, not to override.

4.4 The AIT Roadmap (case analysis)

  • Purpose / when: Case conceptualisation before and during trauma work, mapping present suffering to earlier traumas and patterns. [source: TPN.health]
  • Steps: The Roadmap's format is not published [uncertain: not verified]. In practice: list presenting symptoms and patterns; for each, trace the earlier events that repeat it; identify the core beliefs formed after early trauma; choose an order of targets. [synthesis, drawing on the course objectives]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you feel that sudden shame at work, what is the earliest time you remember feeling exactly that?"
  • Watch for: Leaping to the earliest, most painful material before ego strength allows. Working: a shared map the client recognises.

4.5 Crafting Originating, Initiating and Connecting Trauma statements (OT, IT, CT)

  • Purpose / when: Every protocol round targets a short statement. The Basics teaches identifying and creating Originating Trauma (OT), Initiating Trauma (IT) and Connecting Trauma (CT) statements. [source: TPN.health] Their exact definitions are not published [uncertain: not verified]; the names suggest the earliest root, the event that set off the present problem, and the events linking them. [synthesis]
  • Steps: (1) Draft a short statement in the client's words naming the event or pattern and its feeling. (2) Ask the client to say it aloud and notice the charge. (3) Adjust the wording until it fits; the client may change words to make it more accurate. [source: Rankin] (4) Optionally check with muscle testing (4.3). [source: Rankin; Redington]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Try saying 'All the times I was left alone when I was scared.' Does that fit, or would you put it differently?"
  • Watch for: Statements that are too broad (flooding) or too vague (no charge). Use specific, client-owned words; avoid suggesting details the client has not given. [synthesis]

4.6 The AIT Trauma Protocol

  • Purpose / when: The core intervention for clearing the after-effects of a targeted trauma; Basics teaches four trauma protocols, with the AIT Trauma Protocol as the central one. [source: TPN.health; Rankin AIT page] In AIT's framework, energy moves through and out of major energy centres, which the current training describes as nerve ganglia on the midline. [source: Rankin AIT page; TPN.health]
  • Steps (as described in published accounts): (1) Agree the statement (4.5). (2) The client feels the emotion and notices where in the body it is strongest. (3) Rate the charge 0–10. (4) While the statement is spoken, hands are placed in turn on the midline energy centres from the crown of the head down to the base of the tailbone; one account describes 13 centres. [source: TPN.health; Rankin AIT page] In one client's account, one hand rests where the feeling is strongest while the other moves through the centres. [source: Rankin] (5) Return attention to the room; re-rate. (6) Repeat the round, or move to whatever has surfaced. [source: Rankin] The full sequence, positions and wording are taught in Basics and are not reproduced here.
  • Who places the hands: The training material and a practitioner article describe the client holding each centre [source: TPN.health; Redington]; a promotional page describes the practitioner placing a hand [source: Rankin AIT page] [uncertain: sources differ]. The client's own hands is the safer default. [synthesis]
  • Touch safety: The lowest positions are near the pelvic floor and base of the spine. Have the client place their own hand over clothing, at the lowest position they are comfortable with, or at the lower back instead; never touch these areas yourself. Offer a hands-off option (hands resting in the lap while attending to the area) and record what was agreed. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Say the sentence and rest your hand at the top of your head. When you're ready, move down to the next point. Go only as low as feels right, over your clothes."
  • Watch for: Memories, emotions or sensations (including pain or nausea) may surface briefly before clearing [source: Redington]; distinguish this from escalating distress or dissociation (4.15). Working: falling ratings, softening body sensation, new perspective on the event.

4.7 Charge rating and re-checking

  • Purpose / when: Before and after every round. Practitioners use a 0–10 rating of emotional charge; a statement may clear in one round or need two or three. [source: Rankin] Trials used Subjective Units of Distress. [source: Brown et al. 2023]
  • Steps: Rate; run the round; re-rate; ask about emotion, body sensation and belief separately; re-check the original statement before moving on. [source: Rankin; synthesis for separate checks]
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you say it now, what number is it? Is the tightness in your chest still there?"
  • Watch for: Rapid zero ratings that may reflect numbing or wanting to please; re-check later in the session or next time. [synthesis]

4.8 Following what emerges and treating the pattern

  • Purpose / when: After each round. AIT treats "traumatic patterns" formed by repeated trauma, and practitioners ask what came up and usually follow the client's lead. [source: Clinton 2015; Rankin]
  • Steps: Ask what surfaced; write a new statement for the emerging memory, feeling or connecting trauma; return to the original to check it stays clear. [source: Rankin; TPN.health on CT statements; synthesis for the return check]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What came up as we went through that? Let's put that into a sentence and work on it next."
  • Watch for: Chaining into ever earlier material faster than the client can integrate. Pace by ego strength. [synthesis]

4.9 Core Belief Protocol

  • Purpose / when: To transform blocking, dysfunctional core beliefs that formed after early-life trauma, usually once the related trauma has cleared. [source: TPN.health; Clinton 2015 on transforming negative beliefs] Steps are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Therapist framing: Identify the belief in the client's words; link it to the traumas that formed it; check those traumas are cleared; then apply the protocol as trained. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "That belief, 'I'm too much for people,' when did it first make sense to you?"
  • Watch for: A belief that will not shift often points to an untreated originating trauma; return to 4.4–4.6. [synthesis]

4.10 The 3 Step Transformation

  • Purpose / when: Taught in Basics alongside the Trauma Protocol and Connecting Trauma statements; promoted as a method for rapid and complete transformation. [source: TPN.health; Rankin AIT page] Its three steps are not published [uncertain: not verified]; use only as trained.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Now that the old memory has settled, let's work on what you'd like to have in its place."
  • Watch for: Pressure to reach a "complete" result in one session; consolidate gains over time. [synthesis]

4.11 Positive Qualities Protocol

  • Purpose / when: One of two protocols that awaken or install positive beliefs, attitudes, desires and qualities (for example safety, worth, courage), after trauma clearing. [source: TPN.health; Rankin] Steps are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Therapist framing: Let the client name the quality; ask for an embodied sense of it; check for objections ("part of me says I don't deserve that") and treat them as new trauma or belief targets. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What quality would you most like to feel more of right now? Where in your body would you notice it?"
  • Watch for: Objections or a drop in mood signal an unfinished trauma; do not push the positive over it. [synthesis]

4.12 Quick AIT (self-regulation)

  • Purpose / when: A short form clinicians use in session and teach clients to use at home for self-regulation and self-soothing during emotional distress. [source: TPN.health Quick AIT listing; TPN.health Basics listing] Steps are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: Teach and practise it in session first; agree when to use it (rising distress) and when not (deep trauma work alone, crisis); review use each session. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "This short version is for when you feel flooded between sessions. Let's practise it now so it's familiar, and keep the big memories for when we're together."
  • Watch for: Clients opening major traumas alone; use as a stabiliser, not home trauma processing. Make sure a crisis plan exists alongside it. [synthesis]

4.13 AIT meditations

  • Purpose / when: Meditation supports healing and transformation within AIT [source: Clinton 2015]; Basics participants have received recorded AIT meditations [source: Rankin AIT page]. Content is not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: Use the training recordings as issued; introduce in session; adapt or shorten for trauma survivors who find eyes-closed inner focus destabilising. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can keep your eyes open and your feet on the floor. If anything feels too much, open your eyes and look around the room."
  • Watch for: Spiritual content that conflicts with the client's beliefs; offer it as optional and attributed to AIT's framework. [synthesis]

4.14 The reparative relationship, transference and countertransference

  • Purpose / when: Throughout. AIT treats the reparative client-therapist relationship as part of treatment and uses transference and countertransference as in psychodynamic therapy. [source: Clinton 2015; Redington] Practitioners report that energy work deepens attunement and brings new intuitions. [source: Redington]
  • Steps: Track the client's reactions to you and to the method (deference, fear of disappointing, idealisation); name them; use them as material; check your own pull to "get results". [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I noticed you said the number dropped very quickly. I wonder whether part of you wanted to give me a good result?"
  • Watch for: Intuitions treated as facts about the client's history. Hold them as hypotheses. [synthesis]

4.15 Trauma-safety steps: preparation, dissociation and titration

  • Source position: AIT sources stress building ego strength first [source: Redington] and present AIT as gentle [source: TPN.health]; they do not publish detailed dissociation or titration procedures [uncertain: not verified]. A university trial excluded complex or severe PTSD, epilepsy and a history of intense trigger reactions. [source: UNLV recruitment notice] The following are [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Screen for dissociation before Phase C. (2) Start with lower-charge, recent or peripheral statements; work up. (3) Keep statements narrow; one aspect per round. (4) During a round, watch eyes, breathing, voice and responsiveness; stop if the client goes blank, looks away fixedly, loses time or cannot answer. (5) Ground: eyes open, name objects in the room, feet on the floor, orient to date and place. (6) Leave time to close every session with ratings at a tolerable level; if not, contain (safe-place imagery, a written list of what's left). (7) For dissociative disorders, follow phase-oriented trauma treatment and specialist consultation before using AIT. (8) Review suicide risk when deep material opens, using standard risk assessment.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's pause. Look around and tell me three things you can see. We can come back to this, or leave it for another day."
  • Watch for: Abreaction that escalates rather than resolves; new "memories" produced by muscle testing (handle with neutrality and do not confirm); somatic symptoms (pain, nausea) that persist after the session, which need medical review rather than reinterpretation as trauma.

4.16 Closing a round or session

  • Purpose / when: End of each round and session. In one practitioner account, a round closes with a word of thanks to ground the change in gratitude. [source: Rankin] Whether this is standard in the protocol is not verified [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: Re-rate; ask what has shifted; ground; note what remains; agree home use of Quick AIT if appropriate. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What feels different now compared with when we started? What would you like to remember from today?"
  • Watch for: Leaving open, high-charge material; reserve at least ten minutes to close. [synthesis]

5. Handling problems

AIT sources say little about problems beyond ego strength and the brief surfacing of material. Except where a source is cited, the guidance below is [synthesis].

  • Charge will not drop after several rounds. Usually the statement is off-target or a deeper originating trauma is driving it. Rewrite the statement in the client's words; ask "when did you first feel this?"; return to the Roadmap (4.4). Narrow the statement if it is too global. [synthesis; Rankin on rewording and following what emerges]
  • Nothing is felt (no charge, flat). Check for numbing or dissociation rather than resolution; try a more specific sensory detail; shift to resourcing if the client is shut down.
  • Material surfaces then escalates. Practitioners describe memories, emotions and sensations surfacing briefly before clearing [source: Redington]. If distress keeps rising, stop the protocol, ground (4.15), and return to stabilisation.
  • Overwhelm or dissociation. Stop; ground; lower the target; rebuild ego strength before resuming [source: Redington on ego strength]; consult on phase-oriented treatment for dissociative presentations.
  • Scepticism or embarrassment about self-touch or energy language. Respect it. Describe the energy model as AIT's framework, not fact; offer talk-only work or a hands-off variant; never argue the client into it.
  • Distress about touch or the lowest hand positions. Skip or modify positions, over clothing, at the lower back, or hands-off; record the agreement; do not interpret refusal as resistance.
  • Over-reliance on muscle testing. If the client starts asking the test what to feel or decide, return to their own felt sense and judgement. Do not use testing to decide life choices, diagnose, or confirm whether abuse happened.
  • Recovered-memory risk. If testing or a round "reveals" events the client never remembered, hold them as uncertain, avoid suggestive questions, and do not support legal or family confrontation based on them without careful independent consideration.
  • Non-adherence with Quick AIT at home. Practise in session; link it to a specific trigger; simplify; accept that some clients prefer other self-regulation skills.
  • Using Quick AIT to open big traumas alone. Reframe it as a settling tool; agree on which material waits for sessions; check the crisis plan.
  • Rupture: the client feels judged by "failing" to clear. Own the method's limits; explore the disappointment as relational material (4.14); slow down.
  • Physical symptoms and illness. Some AIT promotion claims relief of physical disease and use for cancer [source: Rankin AIT page]. Never present AIT as a treatment for physical disease; encourage continued medical care; ask for consent to coordinate with the client's doctor where symptoms are relevant; do not reinterpret new or persistent physical symptoms as trauma without medical assessment.
  • Spiritual material (archetypes, the "center", the Divine). Follow the client's own framework; present AIT's spiritual language as attributed; refer to faith leaders where the client wants it.
  • Conflicts of interest and commerce. Do not sell AIT trainings, recordings or courses to clients; keep training and therapy roles separate; disclose your training status honestly.
  • Children and adolescents. No AIT-specific guidance for minors was found [uncertain: not verified]. Use only within your competence, with parental consent and the young person's assent, and with extra care around touch and muscle testing.
  • Clients outside AIT's tested populations. The trial evidence is in non-clinical students with single memories, and excluded complex or severe PTSD [source: Brown et al. 2023; UNLV recruitment notice]. For complex PTSD, psychosis, active substance dependence, epilepsy or acute risk, use established trauma treatment as the base and AIT only as an adjunct after stabilisation, if at all.

Sources