From MindFlight to MindSight:
Overcoming the Phobia of Inner Experience in Chronically Traumatized Individuals
Kathy Steele, MN, CS
We are proud to present the first event in our 2009 Workshop series,
presented by Kathy Steele, MN, CS
Kathy Steele, MN, CS is in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia, and is Clinical Director of Metropolitan Counseling Services, a non-profit, low cost psychotherapy and training center. She is currently President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, is a Fellow of ISSTD, and has received several international awards for her work, as well as a Distinguished Achievement Alumni Award from Emory University in 2006. Kathy is a frequent international presenter and has authored or co-authored numerous publications on trauma and dissociation. She and her Dutch colleagues, Onno Van der Hart and Ellert Nijenhuis, have written an award winning book that is part of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology: The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation of the Personality and Treatment of Chronic Traumatization, Norton, 2006.
Click here for more info about Kathy Steele.
Workshop Details
Workshop Description:
The phobia of inner experience is endemic among survivors of chronic trauma, but also among many other individuals who seek therapy. For various reasons, particularly due to traumatic experiences, an individual’s inner experience (emotions, needs, thoughts, fantasies, desires, bodily feelings, gestures, behavioral actions, etc.) can become frightening, shameful, disgusting, and/or completely overwhelming. The very fact that a person has been traumatized by an event implies that he or she has become overwhelmed by inner experience and subsequently seeks to avoid it. Over time, an individual develops a chronic condition of “mindflight,” the avoidance of or escape from elements of internal experience and also physical action, as the mind and body are integral to each other. Phobic avoidance can abruptly alternate with the intrusion overwhelming affect or other inner experiences. Such episodes only reinforce phobic tendencies, resulting in the posttraumatic cycle of intrusion and avoidance, numbing, and denial. This entrenched phobia maintains ongoing dissociation, narrowing of attention, and other chronic avoidance and escape strategies. It also diminishes one’s capacity for “mindsight,” i.e., mentalizing and other reflective functioning that is necessary for adaptive living and relationships. Regardless of diagnosis, this hidden phobia undermines treatment unless acknowledged and addressed. Accepting, understanding, and integrating mental actions and corresponding physical components are primary interventions in an integration-focused therapeutic approach. This workshop will address ways to identify, understand, and support patients in overcoming the phobia of inner experience. Practical techniques will be offered, and experiential role play and exercises will enhance learning for participants.
AGPS has applied for CEUs for Ph.D/Psy.D, MSW, LPC and LMFTs.
Educational Objectives:
- Define phobia of inner experience and list avoidance and escape strategies.
- Define and describe the role of mentalizing in overcoming the phobia of inner experience.
- List three treatment techniques to overcome the phobia of inner experience in chronically traumatized individuals.
Date:
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Workshop is from 9:00 AM - 12:15 PM.
On-site registration is from 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM.
Workshop Schedule:
Time: |
Event: |
8:30 - 9:00: |
Registration |
9:00 - 10:20: |
Didactic presentation |
10:20 - 10:35: |
Break |
10:35 - 12:00: |
Experiential Demonstration |
12:00 - 12:15: |
Evaluations and Discussion |
Location:
Argosy University
980 Hammond Dr NE, Building 2, Room 401 (4th floor)
Atlanta, Georgia 30328
| Members | Non-Members | Students | |
| Pre-Registration: | $50 | $65 | Free |
| After Reg. Cutoff: | $60 | $75 | Free |
| On-Site Registration: | $60 | $75 | Free |
No Refunds will be given within 1 week of the event.
Click Here for the Registration Form.
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Mail to...
Once you have fully completed your registration form, please mail payment (check only) to:
Rebecca Anne, M.Div, LMSW
Talbott Recovery Campus
5448 Yorktowne Drive
Atlanta, GA 30349
Questions about registration?
Please contact Rebecca Anne at rebeccaanne1975@gmail.com.