Psychoanalysis and somatic trauma treatment models

Treatment for patients suffering from early developmental trauma and dissociation

With Dr David Levit and Dr Zack Eleftheriadou (Chair)

The focus of this webinar will be on treatment with patients suffering from early developmental trauma and severe dissociation. Our speaker, Dr David Levit, draws upon his training not only in psychoanalysis but also in Somatic Experiencing®, one of the somatic trauma treatment models that has developed over the past fifty years outside of psychoanalysis.

Levit will discuss and illustrate ways of working with patients’ bodily experiences in a more direct and sustained manner than psychoanalysts or psychotherapists are typically accustomed to in psychoanalytic or psychoanalytically informed treatment. In this way of working, the body is not only a port of entry but also a central site of therapeutic action.

In presenting an extensive clinical process, Levit will invoke Ogden’s notion of looking from multiple theoretical vertices. Levit will illustrate the interweaving of specific interventions from the somatic trauma therapies, but his emphasis will be on discussion  of the clinical processes from the vantage points of holding, as variously defined by Winnicott, and containing, as defined by Bion.

He is not suggesting that we replace or even supplement our psychoanalytic forms of provision. Rather, he will illustrate how interweaving approaches from somatic trauma therapies into our clinical work can enhance our capacities to offer that which we offer psychoanalytically, namely, being with and bearing what patients cannot bear, and providing much-needed holding and containment. All of this within a context of our continuing efforts to help patients develop their capacity for being present with their traumatic past, rather than being continually haunted by the past in the ongoing present.

For full details, including CPD credits information and booking, visit TR Together

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