Working with structural dissociation can be critical in the treatment of severe or prolonged trauma . . . . . . but it’s often difficult to detect. According to Janina Fisher, PhD, structural dissociation is commonly underdiagnosed, or it’s misdiagnosed as a personality disorder. And when left undetected, it could lead to ineffective treatments that […]
[Infographic] – How the Nervous System Responds to Trauma
It can often be difficult for trauma survivors to understand how or why they reacted a certain way during a traumatic experience. Instead of seeing their trauma response as the result of a split-second, unconscious decision made by their nervous system, your client may blame themself for not reacting differently. This can be especially true […]
[Infographic] How Trauma Can Affect Adult Relationships
Left untreated, childhood trauma can reverberate through adult relationships and make it difficult for your client to get close to other people. But Terry Real, MSW, LICSW has a way of thinking about the psyche that can help clients understand the aftereffects of trauma . . . . . . and help practitioners retarget their […]
[Infographic] How to Differentiate Between the Freeze and Shutdown Trauma Responses
The freeze and shutdown responses to trauma can resemble each other . . . . . . but they are very different in terms of what’s happening in your client’s brain, body, and nervous system. And that means they require different grounding strategies as well. In this infographic, we lay out some key cues to […]
[Infographic] Working with Structural Dissociation
One challenge of working with trauma is when a patient’s dissociated “parts” are operating independently . . . . . . or worse, they’re at odds with each other. This can be very distressing for the patient (and lead to a dysregulated nervous system). But the Structural Dissociation Model developed by Kathy Steele, MN, CS, […]