Frightening Attachment Figures

The tasks of living, that may seem ordinary to the untraumatized and secure person, can be fraught with difficulty for someone who lacked a safe development journey in childhood because their parents were frightening or dangerous. They often suffer from complex trauma.

Main and Solomon (1986) first identified fear and the feared object as an important factor as an obstruction to the child’s attachment needs. Working these research findings into what they later called Disorganised Attachment, has given us the framework to see how dominant is the role of fear in clients with complex trauma facing profound difficulties in managing critical areas in their relationships and everyday life.

Some of these individuals were deemed as not being suitable for therapy. Using these insights in the therapeutic relationship requires clinical skill, and the purpose of this workshop is to further professional understanding of the ongoing impact of the client’s attachment trauma as it is displayed in their adaptation to survival. In deepening the understanding of the nature of attachment dynamics invoked in the client – and indeed the therapist – participants will gain understanding of the disorganised attachment state of mind, trauma and dissociative processes.  Orit will demonstrate relational ways to facilitate the challenges of working with clients with complex trauma and the move towards synthesis of traumatised self-states, interpersonal relatedness, and a growing sense of earned security.