Demystifying Dissociation: Principles, Best Practices, and Clinical Approaches
Course #66081 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Dissociation is a natural and normal part of the human experience. An inherent mechanism of the primitive brain, dissociation allows for needs to be met and for protection when one feels especially vulnerable. Understanding the intricacies of dissociation is imperative if a therapist or other helping professional wishes to be as trauma-focused as possible. Trauma and dissociation go hand-in-hand, and this interplay can manifest in ways that are clinically puzzling. However, a main theme of this course is that understanding one's own relationship with dissociation and internal world of parts is an important educational step to working with dissociation effectively.
- INTRODUCTION
- FUNDAMENTALS OF DISSOCIATION
- DIAGNOSTIC PERSPECTIVES ON DISSOCIATION
- THE DISSOCIATIVE PROFILE EXERCISE
- FOUNDATIONS OF WORKING WITH CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT DISSOCIATION
- PERSONAL METAPHOR AND PARTS WORK
- ADDICTION AS DISSOCIATION
- SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT PLANNING
- CONCLUSION
- RESOURCES
- Works Cited
- Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations Citations
This course is designed for psychologists practicing in a variety of modalities and from a variety of traditions.
The purpose of this course is to equip psychologists with the knowledge and skills that they need to better understand dissociation and its connection to trauma.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Define dissociation in a trauma-focused manner.
- Describe the impact and manifestations of trauma and dissociation on the brain.
- Identify common myths about working with dissociative clients in psychotherapy, including historical roots.
- Outline diagnostic criteria for dissociative disorders.
- Describe the Dissociative Profile exercise.
- Describe the screening tools and inventories available for use in clinical settings regarding dissociation.
- Apply personal metaphor and parts work in the care of clients with dissociation.
- Outline the similarities between addiction and dissociation and how they can be framed.
- Discuss key components of successful treatment planning for clients with dissociation.
- Implement approaches for early and later phases of dissociative disorder treatment.
Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, REAT, RYT-500, RMT, (she/they) travels internationally speaking on topics related to EMDR therapy, trauma, addiction, expressive arts, and mindfulness while maintaining a private practice and online education operation, the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, in her home base of northeast Ohio. She is the developer of the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy and the developer of Yoga for Clinicians. Dr. Marich is the author of numerous books, including EMDR Made Simple, Trauma Made Simple, and EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care (written in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Dansiger). She is also the author of Process Not Perfection: Expressive Arts Solutions for Trauma Recovery. In 2020, a revised and expanded edition of Trauma and the 12 Steps was released. In 2022 and 2023, Dr. Marich published two additional books: The Healing Power of Jiu-Jitsu: A Guide to Transforming Trauma and Facilitating Recovery and Dissociation Made Simple. Dr. Marich is a woman living with a dissociative disorder, and this forms the basis of her award-winning passion for advocacy in the mental health field.
Contributing faculty, Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, REAT, RYT-500, RMT, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Margaret Donohue, PhD
The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.