Trauma, Shame, and Dissociation

A clinical conference with an emphasis on psychodynamic therapy, and an additional addendum on a relational hypnotherapeutic approach to shame.

At the heart of traumatic experience that has seemingly unresolvable, persistent effects often lie activated dissociative processes.

These are typically related to shame and humiliation experiences from moments of collapse in the face of overwhelming force. Or the origins of these persistent effects may be closer to the repetitive emotional injury seen in chronic bullying, ridicule, or attendant racism and other social humiliations and oppressions. These may be societal, and they also may be familial.

Using engaged, active, didactic presentations, including three evocative cases, participants will be invited to discuss their reactions to the presentation and add their perspectives to the learning environment.

Specific presentations on recognizing dissociative processes in your casework, the shame spectrum of emotion, "attackments" (exploring attachment and trauma), and two additional case presentations will round out a full day of exploration of these topics.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Richard A. Chefetz, M.D. (Washington, D.C, private practice, psychiatry), Past president, International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (2002-3), and Co-Founder and Chair of their Psychotherapy Training Program (2000-8), Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. He is an approved consultant at the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. He is the former List owner and head moderator (2004-2024) for the Dissociative Disorders Internet Forum, with over 2200 members worldwide. He is faculty at the New Washington School of Psychiatry, the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis, and the Washington-Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. He is also an instructor at the Westchester (N.Y.) Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. In 2015, he published Intensive Psychotherapy for Persistent Dissociative Processes: The Fear of Feeling Real, with W.W. Norton, in their Interpersonal Neurobiology series. Dr. Chefetz has presented his work in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., Romania, Israel, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Kathryn J. Chefetz, MSW, LCSW, psychoanalyst, Faculty, Washington Center for Psychoanalysis, Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis, New Washington School of Psychiatry (NWSP), and Center for the Study of Aging and Clinical Applications at the NWSP. Mrs. Chefetz has presented casework in Delhi, India, Christ Church, New Zealand, Bucharest and Timisoara, Romania, and Washington, D.C. She is a sought-after supervisor in clinical social work and treatment of the dissociative disorders