Working With Trauma, Dissociation, And Psychosis

CBT and Other Approaches to Understanding and Recovery

What you'll learn
• Identify possible interrelationships between trauma, dissociation, and psychosis, including ways that psychosis itself can be traumatizing
• Describe a variety of possible causal routes from trauma to psychotic experiences, and understand the possible role of dissociation within that process
• Utilize proven cognitive strategies to address command and persecutory voices, and other common & distressing experiences found in trauma-associated psychosis
• Plan to integrate CBT for psychosis with various trauma therapies to effectively treat clients who have experienced both trauma and psychosis
• Demonstrate a collaborate approach to helping clients develop coherent and compassionate stories of trauma and recovery
Requirements
This course will still make sense to those without prior training in CBT or any trauma therapies, although such prior training will likely be helpful in understanding some of the material.
Description
Develop a humanistic understanding of how adverse life events can lead to reactions such as dissociation and psychosis, and then learn approaches and skills which will allow you to support people in changing those reactions and turning toward recovery!   After taking this course, you will be able to bring a truly trauma informed perspective into your work with people who are struggling with the most serious disorders.    Topics covered include:   ·        Optimal style of therapy·        Shifting from “what’s wrong” to “what happened” & “what next”   ·        Building coherent, self-compassionate recovery narratives   ·        Incorporating mindfulness approaches   ·        Overcoming dissociative splits   ·        Shifting from suppression to boundaries along with some openness   ·        Finding & working with themes in metaphorical expressions   ·        Spiritual considerations

  Work toward the possibility of true healing, not just “managing an illness”!

  Though mainstream approaches still commonly focus on biological factors, a large body of research now provides strong evidence that psychosis is often an understandable reaction to trauma, abuse, and other adverse experiences, with dissociation commonly at the center of that reaction. 

  This course presents a science based yet very humanistic and understandable conceptualization of the complex difficulties which can occur in response to adverse life events, and then teaches how CBT and other approaches can be used to help people change their relationship with these experiences, opening up possibilities for recovery. 

  Included in the course are video lectures, slides with some diagrams, lots of case examples, exploratory exercises, and links to additional resources for study.   The course will take 6 hours to complete.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Welcome to the Course!

Lecture 2 Notes on Taking This Course

Section 2: What Are the Possible Connections Between Trauma and Psychosis?

Lecture 3 What Evidence Indicates a Connection Between Trauma and Psychosis?

Lecture 4 Appreciating Complexity in Possible Causes of Psychosis

Lecture 5 When Problem Solving Backfires: Vicious Circles and the Origins of Psychosis

Lecture 6 How Common Is the Denial of a Possible Link Between Trauma and Psychosis?

Lecture 7 Where You Work, Is a Possible Connection Between Trauma & Psychosis Recognized?

Lecture 8 What Causes the Role of Trauma to Be So Often Denied?

Lecture 9 Important Relationships Between PTSD and Psychosis

Lecture 10 What Happens When the Role of Trauma is Ignored?

Section 3: Inquiring About Possible Trauma and Abuse

Lecture 11 Asking About a Possible Trauma History

Section 4: General Principles of Therapy When Trauma and Psychosis Are Related

Lecture 12 General Principles of Therapy for Trauma and Psychosis

Lecture 13 Short Term Versus Long Term Strategies

Lecture 14 Thoughts About Timing: In What Order Should Problems Be Addressed?

Section 5: Facing Disturbances With Equanimity: Using Mindfulness

Lecture 15 Mindfulness: Finding Clarity in the Present Moment

Lecture 16 A Mindfulness Exercise

Lecture 17 Another Exercise: "Taking Your Voices for a Walk"

Lecture 18 Discussion about "Taking Your Voices For a Walk" Exercise

Lecture 19 Two Directions in Good Stress Management

Section 6: Helping People Develop Coherent, Self-Affirming Narratives

Lecture 20 Supporting Coherent, Self-Affirming Narratives

Lecture 21 Becoming a Person: Rai Waddingham's Recovery Narrative

Lecture 22 How To Respond When Reported Trauma May Be Imaginary

Section 7: Understanding the Role of Dissociation

Lecture 23 Understanding the Origins of Dissociation

Lecture 24 Idendifying Two Types of Dissociation: "Positive" and "Negative"

Lecture 25 Relating Dissociation to "Hallucinations" and "Delusions"

Lecture 26 Dissociation and "Decontextualized Experience"

Lecture 27 A Possible Map of Extreme States and Polarities

Section 8: Discovering and Supporting a Balance Between Extremes

Lecture 28 Helping People Find a Balance Between Extremes

Lecture 29 Getting Practice Mapping Polarities Within Discussions

Section 9: Constructively Working With Voices and Other Intrusions

Lecture 30 Coping With Intrusions, What Works and What Doesn't, Part 1

Lecture 31 Coping With Intrusions, What Works and What Doesn't, Part 2

Lecture 32 Learning from Eleanor Longden's Story

Lecture 33 Using a Formulation to Aid Recovery from Problems With Voices

Lecture 34 Reducing Harm from Commanding Voices

Lecture 35 Role Play: Responding to Voices

Lecture 36 Brining Compassion Into One's Relationship With Voices

Lecture 37 Voice Dialogue: A Therapist or Helper Speaks Directly To a Voice

Section 10: Making Sense When Meaning May Be Metaphorical

Lecture 38 Facilitating Dialogue When Meaning Emerges as Unrecognized Metaphor

Lecture 39 Examples of Working With Themes That Emerge Metaphorically, From Bertram Karon

Lecture 40 Addressing Spiritual Issues Related to Trauma and Psychosis

Section 11: Rescripting

Lecture 41 Rescripting: A "Magical" Approach to Transforming Response To Trauma Memories

Lecture 42 One Example of Using Rescripting Alongside Other Approaches

Section 12: Supplemental Perspectives and Review

Lecture 43 Supplemental Information and Review, Part 1

Lecture 44 Supplemental Information and Review, Part 2

Lecture 45 Using "Capsule Summaries" To Integrate Learning - The End!

Lecture 46 Resources for Learning More

This course will primarily be of interest to mental health workers who work with people who have experienced both trauma and psychosis,The ideal student might be a therapist, but case managers, peer support specialists, nurses, medical providers and other support workers will also find much they can use.,The course may also be of interest to people with lived experience of psychosis and to family members who would like to better understand these tricky experiences and what might possibly help people do better.