Treating Personality Disorders: Advances from Brain Science and Traumatology
Clients with personality disorders—narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, sociopathic—often have profound traumatic childhoods, which leave them without a solid inner core from which to function. Often “nudged” into treatment by others, including the law, their inability to trust and their need for power make forming a therapeutic alliance seemingly impossible. They come armed with defenses developed at very early ages that are designed to ensure their survival by protecting their fragility. In this workshop, you’ll explore:
- How to develop a therapeutic alliance in the face of mistrust, control issues, and rock solid defenses while staying out of power struggles
- How to work with the pathological dissociation typically present in personality disordered clients
- Practical, effective interventions informed by neuroscience that help clients safely manage frightening symptoms, including violence and emotional meltdowns, and develop healthier boundaries and a more differentiated sense of self