The Truth about Trauma and Dissociation; Part II
Dissociation
This webinar was recorded and is now available as a Talk on Demand. Click here for more details.
Saturday 10 July 2021
A live webinar with Dr Valerie Sinason and discussants Zoe Hawton and Mark Linington
- Includes a recording of the event with access for a year (14 days post the event)
- Bookings close at 4:00am EDT Wednesday 7 July
Valerie Sinason is a world leader in the study of traumatology and has pioneered some of the most difficult work in the field. In the first part of this presentation, she focuses on the clinical implications of extreme adverse childhood experiences, disorganised attachment and resulting dissociative identity disorders.
READ MORE...Here, in Part II, she builds on that guide to offer further insight into the nuances of dissociation – a mental state in which people feel disconnected from their sense of self, experience or history. This defense against intolerable stress can lead to depression or anxiety, to derealisation and depersonalisation or ultimately to a serious dissociative disorder.
Joined by two colleagues who work with dissociative patients, Zoe Hawton and Mark Linnington, Valerie will discuss such distinctions as dissociative amnesia, fugue states, and structural dissociation. These are often misunderstood symptoms and study is advisable for mental health practitioners working with patients who have experienced childhood abuse, infanticidal attachment or – in the most extreme cases – ritualised sexual abuse.
This work creates great anxiety in professional networks. Our speakers will share how they have found their way to work sustainably with these complex cases, and the importance of supportive supervision.
FULL PROGRAMME
06:00 EDT
Dissociative States of Mind
In this session, Valerie will describe different dissociative defense mechanisms, and why they may have arisen for specific patients. These will include derealisation, amnesia between different personality states (quaternary structural dissociation), and structural dissociation (primary and secondary).
06:50
Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A
Valerie Sinason, Zoe Hawton and Mark Linnington
07:20
Break
07:40
Dissociative Babies
This rarely discussed attachment disorder refers to a sub-section of attachment where the parent has suffered from infanticidal states of mind. Their babies can show splitting behaviour, such as clinging on for survival or dissociating, and as adults may have dissociative capacities which severely disrupt life. Such defenses have been needed for psychological survival and cannot be broken down. Rather, therapy involves the development of narratives which identify these self-states. We shall consider how.
08:30
Panel Discussion followed by audience Q&A
Valerie Sinason, Zoe Hawton and Mark Linnington
09:00
Break
09:45
Organised Ritualistic Abuse and Structural Dissociation
Adding to the complexity of dissociative disorders, organised ritualistic abuse is frequently described as a key traumatic experience in those coming for treatment for DID. This refers to child and adult abuse in which spiritual ideas, religious or pseudo-religious beliefs are used to evoke extra fear and control of the victim. This can be associated with perpetrators’ production of child abuse materials for consumption. In this session, Valerie will talk about the psychological defense mechanism of structural dissociation and her clinical experience of working with this.
10:35
Discussion and audience Q&A
11:00
End