Dissociation is a highly adaptive survival strategy in the presence of systematic and prolonged abuse characteristic of child sexual abuse (CSA) and domestic violence. In the presence of repeated traumatic experiences in which there is no escape, dissociation becomes the default setting making it hard to remain present in the body. As a result, many survivors of CSA, rape and domestic abuse numb all affect, disconnect from, or delete their body and retreat into their head. This can lead to a range of symptoms which are currently subsumed under subtype Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with Prominent Dissociative Symptoms.
To fully understand the role of dissociation in complex trauma It is essential to understand the psychobiological mechanisms that underpin peritraumatic dissociation through the release of a cascade of neurochemicals and the disruption in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity and perception which are the core features of secondary dissociation and structural dissociation, and how these produce the dissociative states, and symptoms seen in Dissociative Disorders, Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD).
The training will specifically look at:
• The spectrum of dissociation from automaticity to Dissociative Identity Disorder
• The link between trauma and dissociation
• View dissociation as a survival strategy
• Identify the common symptoms of dissociation such as depersonalisation, derealisation, fugue states and identity confusion
• How to distinguish between peri-traumatic dissociation and structural dissociation
• Highlight the hallmark signs of dissociation in session
• The lived experience of dissociation in clients
• How to work with dissociation and split-off parts
• How to manage dissociation in session including somatic
• Explore practitioners own capacity to dissociate
• How to distinguish between dissociation and psychotic disorders
• How to become a dissociation wise practitioner
