What to Do Now? How to Overcome Resistance in Treatment of Dissociative Children

Course overview

This workshop will examine five main factors that can influence resistance in treatment of dissociative children and adolescents: how safe the child feels in therapeutic relationship, how safe the child's internal system feels toward one another and toward the therapist; how safe the child feels in his/her own environment, and contingent upon that is how open or resistant the parents are to receiving treatment for their own histories of trauma that interfere in the child's safety, and finally, how the therapist manages countertransference's to resistance. These obstacles can be narrowed down to emphasizing the goal of healing that can help to mitigate resistances. Many effective interventions and creative solutions will be described throughout the therapeutic process with case examples that will help to overcome the different levels of resistance and emphasize the goal of healing at critical junctures. Artwork and clinical videotapes will illustrate these points.