Webinar: Stuck in the Vortex of Despair: Responding effectively to clients who experience complex post-traumatic stress disorder and developmental trauma

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Stuck in the Vortex of Despair: Responding effectively to clients who experience complex post-traumatic stress disorder and developmental trauma

Live webinar September 21 and 28, 2020
Natalie Zlodre, MSW., RSW.

Early childhood trauma (emotional deprivation, physical /sexual abuse) intertwined with insecure early attachment patterns and the strain of present-day adversity may lead some clients to experience chronic and complex intrapsychic, and interpersonal reactions. For some individuals, their lives are filled with a pool of unmet needs, a legacy of interpersonal turmoil, a range of disruptive trauma reactions, and a deficit of skill, motivation, and support to move beyond their past. These individuals may become chronically depressed, have addictions, and are vulnerable to ongoing victimization. 

A conceptual framework for understanding and guiding your work with clients with layered adverse experiences and continued present-day suffering will be discussed. We will review the definitions of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Developmental Trauma (DT) and discuss how it overlaps with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). An often overlooked but fundamental dimension in CPTSD and DT is the development and psychosocial impact of insecure attachment patterns on personality.  An outline of key developmental pathways that are arrested by trauma will be discussed. An overview of key clinical approaches to respond effectively to CPTSD and DT will be presented. We will also address how COVID-19 has sparked unconscious emotional triggers and adaptations. 

A realistic approach of how to treat CPTSD and DT in short-term agency-based programs as well as ongoing long-term psychotherapy will be outlined.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the intersecting dimensions of insecure attachment and Complex/Developmental Trauma
• Distinguish PTSD, CPTSD, BDP and DT
• Identify the core characterological features of chronic trauma (rigid schemas, physical/emotional dysregulation, emotional flashbacks, oversized inner critic, shame prone-identity, self-alienation, blocked grief, dissociation, fixed flight, flight, freeze, fawn responses, relational reenactments, existential despair)
• Outline key treatment directions, strategies, and models: Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Imagery Rescripting and Reprocessing Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. 

Registration fees: General $500 | Student $450 

Find more information and registration details on our event web page at https://www.cvent.com/d/n7qkjj