Childhood abuse requires self-alienation: we must disown that humiliating “bad child” and work harder to be the “good child” acceptable to our attachment figures. In the end, we survive trauma at the cost of disowning and dissociating from our most wounded selves.

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While longing to be feel safe and welcome, traumatized individuals find themselves in conflict: alternating between clinging and pushing others away, self-hatred and hostility toward others, yearning to be seen yet yearning to be invisible. Years later, these clients present in therapy with symptoms of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, diagnoses of bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder, and a distorted or absent sense of identity.

 

This workshop offers a practical “hands on” approach to clients with underlying issues of self-alienation and self-hatred by helping them to recognize how trauma leaves them fragmented and at war within their own minds and bodies. Traumatized individuals must be taught to observe both the parts they have embraced and identified with as ‘me’ and the trauma-related parts they have disowned and judged harshly.

 

Using interventions drawn from a number of therapeutic approaches (including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, and ego state therapy), the focus is on helping clients observe and accept all aspects of self with mindfulness-based interest and curiosity. As these young parts are identified and understood as ‘heros’ in the individual’s story of survival, clients are able to feel more warmly toward them, often for the first time.

 

Techniques will be demonstrated that increase the capacity to feel for and with each part, that foster the sense of caring for young wounded parts, paving the way for growing “earned secure attachment” or attachment to ourselves. Even when they are unable to tolerate emotion, forgive themselves, or take in someone’s caring for them, our clients can learn to feel pain and affection on behalf of their younger selves and even learn to welcome these ‘lost souls’ with warmth and self-compassion.

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Educational Objectives
At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
 

• Describe how trauma results in self-alienation and fragmentation

• Discuss structural dissociation theory as a trauma model for understanding personality structure

• Identify manifestations of fragmented parts of the personality in distressing emotions, survival responses, negative beliefs, and self-judgments

• Utilize mindfulness-based, body-centered interventions to facilitate felt emotional connection to younger parts of self

• Capitalize on internal dialogue techniques to increase inner communication and attachment bonding

• Integrate compassion-focused interventions into the therapy