Dissociation and Fragmentation in the Wake of Complex Trauma

Traumatic experiences, especially those in early childhood, can result in the ability to disconnect from ourselves and from the overwhelm around us - in order to keep the horror at a distance and preserve some sense of self.

Psychologically: splitting: off experiences of humiliation, abandonment, and violation helps children survive and adapt but later in life can lead to self rejection, self-neglect, or even self-hatred or shame. Understanding trauma-related fragmentation as a survival response is vital to the work of all therapists who work with victims of abuse, neglect, torture, domestic violence, or even combat.

Dissociated experiences are not integrated into the usual sense of self, resulting in discontinuities in
conscious awareness. In severe forms of dissociation, disconnection occurs in the usually integrated
functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception.

In severe forms of dissociation,
disconnection occurs in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception.

This training will cover different types of dissociative disorders, the spectrum of dissociation and its relationship to traumatic events and development and presentation of alters, and treatment models.