Healing Attachment Wounds and Complex Trauma

Course overview

Working with clients who present with issues related to PTSD and Complex PTSD can be especially challenging, even for seasoned clinicians. We will first explore the difference between secure and insecure attachment patterns in the "serve and return" dance between children and their primary caretakers. We will also connect the impact of insecure attachment to Erickson's psychosocial stages of development. We will process what happens when children are forced to attach to abusive or dysfunctional caretakers. We will then connect primal attachment wounds to the sequelae of PTSD. This will include an exploration of the latest diagnostic criteria that distinguishes PTSD from Complex PTSD, the dynamics that make clients vulnerable to developing Complex PTSD, the potential causes of C-PTSD, acute symptoms and the lasting impact of C-PTSD. Clinicians will have the opportunity to gain new perspectives that will allow them to take a trauma-informed approach to treatment.