Psychotherapy Networker Symposium
"Lean on me?" Attachment and dependency in trauma treatment (parts 1 and 2)
One of the challenges of treating trauma patients is establishing and supporting a secure attachment without allowing the therapeutic relationship to tip into disempowering dependence. This workshop will help you recognize signs that the client is shifting toward an unhealthy dependency on the therapist, and what you can do to bring it back into the realm of a more effective therapeutic connection. Specifically, you’ll learn: (1) the differences between adaptive and unhealthy dependency, and between secure attachment and dependency; (2) ways to understand what the dependent client is actually seeking and to empathically communicate with the client about those needs; (3) clinical missteps or beliefs that could lead to unhealthy dependency; (4) guidelines for establishing boundaries and setting limits that encourage a felt sense of security, while avoiding unhealthy dependency; (5) and specific strategies to support secure attachment and ease the client’s yearnings or demands for caretaking by the therapist.