Dissociation Fundamentals for Clinical Care

Course overview

Myths, misconceptions, and cruel assessments of people who dissociate still abound in the helping professions. Dissociation, or severing, meaning separating from the present moment or aspects of self, is a natural part of all trauma response and the human experience. Yet even seasoned professionals can find themselves baffled in addressing dissociation clinically. Your instructor for this course addresses these problems from several angles--as a person with a dissociative disorder and an intricate internal system, as an EMDR Trauma Therapy practitioner and trainer, and as a long-time recipient of various approaches to trauma therapy as a client. Solutions are proposed for helping professionals become less afraid of dissociation by more fully embracing their own internal world of responses and parts and committing to addressing the abundance of stigma that exists toward people with dissociative identities in helping professions and in society at large. These paradigm shifts can lead us to more effectively serve our clients and not to judge all dissociative minds as the same.