Kathy Steele 2021: All 7 Topics on Complex Trauma and Dissociation - 25 hours
Purchase all 7 Topics for a discounted rate AND have access to the recordings for 60 days!
By purchasing all series you will have access to seven interesting topics pertaining to the assessment and treatment of Complex Trauma and Dissociative Disorders in adult clients who have been exposed to developmental trauma.
Topics include
1: Assessment of Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Clinical assessment strategies for the major DSM 5 dissociative disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder, Example 1, will be discussed. How to ask clients about current and past amnesia and distinguish it from the lack of memory that results from spacing out will be a major focus. In addition, we will explore several dissociative symptoms that are similar to psychotic symptoms and must be differentiated from psychosis. Several major clinical interview and self-report measures will be included.
2: Treatment Trajectories and Prognosis in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
What informs us of how long and challenging a treatment course might last with clients who have Complex PTSD or Dissociative Disorders? In this webinar we will discuss factors that affect prognosis and the length and course of therapy. We will explore what to look for in assessment and early treatment, and how to plan therapy according to prognostic factors.
3: Working with Self Injury and Suicidality in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Intentional self-injury is a common problem in working with clients with complex trauma and dissociation. We will explore how to understand it compassionately, and what to do to help the client reduce and stop these behaviors that are used to regulate and reduce shame. Specific interventions will be addressed, including approaches for specific dissociative parts that are active in self-harm dynamics. We will discuss acute and chronic suicidality, from suicidal thoughts to plans, and how to address these in therapy from a trauma and dissociation informed perspective. Management of the therapist’s countertransference will also be discussed, from avoidance to urgency.
4: Treatment of Traumatic Memory in Dissociative Disorders (Advanced)
Once clients with dissociative disorders are stabilized, they need to process traumatic memories. There are many approaches to working with traumatic memory, from prolonged exposure to EMDR to psychodynamic to narrative approaches. Regardless of which approach is used, the work must often be carefully sequenced in a slow, gradual way to help the client maintain in a window of tolerance. We will explore how to organize the work with dissociative parts of the client, what to look for to ensure adequate pacing, how to decide whether the client as a whole or only certain parts of the clients should participate, how to titrate experience and time to pace the work, how to pendulate to the present moment from memory, how to bracket memory work with positive experiences, among other interventions.
5: Ethics and Boundaries in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
This workshop explores the complicated ethical dilemmas in treating clients in different developmental stages with complex trauma and dissociation. Common ethical challenges will be discussed, including reporting and confidentiality issues; ongoing abuse and revictimization; ethical issues related to self-harm, suicidality and danger to others; boundary issues; management of the therapeutic relationship and intense countertransference; ethical management of impasses. We will explore the intersection of our personal and professional ethics, its impact on our ethical decision-making, and how we can develop a mindful, compassionate and boundaried approach to ethics that is well integrated with our clinical approach.
6: Transference, Countertransference and Erotic Transference in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
How we feel towards our clients and how we experience being with them in the moment are crucial in understanding the therapeutic relationship and the dynamics of the client. While awareness of countertransference is encouraged, it is not often discussed in depth in relation to traumatized individuals. We will explore challenging dynamics that pull us to act urgently or to reject the client in some way, and how to recognize and manage these in ourselves, how to recognize enactments from our own histories and how they intersect with the client’s own enactments. In addition, the complex feelings of the client toward the therapist will be discussed, with suggestions for managing overly positive or negative transference. Finally, we will explore erotic transference – what it is, how to recognize it, and how to manage it.
7: Working with Resistance in Complex Trauma and Dissociation
Chronic resistance will be discussed as a co-creation of therapist and client. We can compassionately understand resistance as inevitable and an essential focus of psychotherapy, and as a phobic avoidance of what is perceived to be intolerable by the client. We will learn how to anticipate resistance through specific assessment strategies early in therapy, how to recognize it in the session and in the therapeutic relationship, and how to work with resistance in dissociative parts of the client. We will explore how to address resistance in a compassionate and gradual way without evoking further defense in the client.
1: Assessment of Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Clinical assessment strategies for the major DSM 5 dissociative disorders, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder, Example 1, will be discussed. How to ask clients about current and past amnesia and distinguish it from the lack of memory that results from spacing out will be a major focus. In addition, we will explore several dissociative symptoms that are similar to psychotic symptoms and must be differentiated from psychosis. Several major clinical interview and self-report measures will be included.
2: Treatment Trajectories and Prognosis in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
What informs us of how long and challenging a treatment course might last with clients who have Complex PTSD or Dissociative Disorders? In this webinar we will discuss factors that affect prognosis and the length and course of therapy. We will explore what to look for in assessment and early treatment, and how to plan therapy according to prognostic factors.
3: Working with Self Injury and Suicidality in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Intentional self-injury is a common problem in working with clients with complex trauma and dissociation. We will explore how to understand it compassionately, and what to do to help the client reduce and stop these behaviors that are used to regulate and reduce shame. Specific interventions will be addressed, including approaches for specific dissociative parts that are active in self-harm dynamics. We will discuss acute and chronic suicidality, from suicidal thoughts to plans, and how to address these in therapy from a trauma and dissociation informed perspective. Management of the therapist’s countertransference will also be discussed, from avoidance to urgency.
4: Treatment of Traumatic Memory in Dissociative Disorders (Advanced)
Once clients with dissociative disorders are stabilized, they need to process traumatic memories. There are many approaches to working with traumatic memory, from prolonged exposure to EMDR to psychodynamic to narrative approaches. Regardless of which approach is used, the work must often be carefully sequenced in a slow, gradual way to help the client maintain in a window of tolerance. We will explore how to organize the work with dissociative parts of the client, what to look for to ensure adequate pacing, how to decide whether the client as a whole or only certain parts of the clients should participate, how to titrate experience and time to pace the work, how to pendulate to the present moment from memory, how to bracket memory work with positive experiences, among other interventions.
5: Ethics and Boundaries in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
This workshop explores the complicated ethical dilemmas in treating clients in different developmental stages with complex trauma and dissociation. Common ethical challenges will be discussed, including reporting and confidentiality issues; ongoing abuse and revictimization; ethical issues related to self-harm, suicidality and danger to others; boundary issues; management of the therapeutic relationship and intense countertransference; ethical management of impasses. We will explore the intersection of our personal and professional ethics, its impact on our ethical decision-making, and how we can develop a mindful, compassionate and boundaried approach to ethics that is well integrated with our clinical approach.
6: Transference, Countertransference and Erotic Transference in Complex Trauma & Dissociation
How we feel towards our clients and how we experience being with them in the moment are crucial in understanding the therapeutic relationship and the dynamics of the client. While awareness of countertransference is encouraged, it is not often discussed in depth in relation to traumatized individuals. We will explore challenging dynamics that pull us to act urgently or to reject the client in some way, and how to recognize and manage these in ourselves, how to recognize enactments from our own histories and how they intersect with the client’s own enactments. In addition, the complex feelings of the client toward the therapist will be discussed, with suggestions for managing overly positive or negative transference. Finally, we will explore erotic transference – what it is, how to recognize it, and how to manage it.
7: Working with Resistance in Complex Trauma and Dissociation
Chronic resistance will be discussed as a co-creation of therapist and client. We can compassionately understand resistance as inevitable and an essential focus of psychotherapy, and as a phobic avoidance of what is perceived to be intolerable by the client. We will learn how to anticipate resistance through specific assessment strategies early in therapy, how to recognize it in the session and in the therapeutic relationship, and how to work with resistance in dissociative parts of the client. We will explore how to address resistance in a compassionate and gradual way without evoking further defense in the client.
About Kathy Steele
Kathy Steele, MN, CS has been in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia for over three decades, specializing in the treatment of complex trauma, dissociation, attachment difficulties, and the challenges of complicated therapies. She is an adjunct faculty at Emory University, and a Fellow and past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Ms Steele teaches internationally and consults with individuals, groups, and trauma programs. She has received a number of awards for her clinical and published works, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from ISSTD.
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Kathy Steele - 7 topics - 25 hours of Webinars
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