CC17 Keynote 06 – When Intimacy Feels Unsafe: Healing the Trauma Legacy in Couples Therapy – Janina Fisher, PhD

Description:

Early childhood trauma has lasting and dramatic effects on attachment formation and on the later capacity for intimacy and mutuality. Instead of experiencing relationships as a haven of safety, traumatized couples are driven by powerful wishes for and fears of closeness. By using somatic and mindfulness-based interventions, conflictual patterns are disrupted, allowing couples to address the intense responses and impulsive reactions that undermine all sense of safety and hope and recreate the experience of threat in the body and in the relationship.

Educational Objectives:

1. Discuss the neurobiological consequences of traumatic experience on individu- als and couples.
2. Identify signs of traumatic attachment in dyadic interaction.
3. Describe a trauma-focused paradigm for high-conflict couple relationships.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*