Disconnected and Unreachable

Disconnected and Unreachable: How to Work with Shut-Down States of Mind

Friday 5 February 2021 - A Live Webinar

A One-Day Exploration Led by Dr Anne Alvarez and Dr Graham Music

  • This event will not be recorded
  • Bookings close at 9.00am GMT Tuesday 2 February

Working with someone who cannot respond to the connection to another offered by psychotherapy can be one of the most de-skilling experiences for practitioners. Being with long periods of silence, avoidance of eye-contact, difficulties in showing affect, purpose or even words can be enormously challenging and likely to evoke a very negative countertransference. Frustration, boredom and feelings of incompetence make it hard to maintain interest in such clients and they may be dismissed as unready or unsuitable for therapy.

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SPEAKERS

Dr Anne AlvarezDr Graham Music,

FULL PROGRAMME

13.00 GMT (08.00 EST)
Introductions and Zoom Housekeeping

13.05
Graham Music
Early Neglect: Deactivated States
Graham’s first talk will look at a specific aspect of dampened down, deactivated states, the origins of which lie in early neglect. Sharing his understanding of the effects of abandonment and inattention on the brain and nervous system, he will highlight the importance of differentiating the profound effects of lack of care from trauma. The closed-off relational presentation in therapy of such people reveals their challenge of staying psychologically alive. Graham will draw on case material to demonstrate ways of bringing them into the therapeutic relationship.

13.45
Q&A

14.00
Dr Anne Alvarez
Undrawn States: The Problem of Introjection
As a young psychologist doing research on schizophrenia in Canada, Anne was inspired by Frieda Fromm-Reichman and Harry Stack Sullivan’s attempts to reach unreachable patients. Then, on a research project on autism, she noticed a difference between the avoidant children and others who could barely perceive another’s presence. Years later, after training at the Tavistock in London, she treated a boy who was very different from other more shell-type children. His level of emptiness was both horrifying and puzzling. Equally perplexing for Anne was the way in which he responded with a slow, delighted surprise to her urgent and intense attempt to call him into contact. She eventually concluded that he had not been hiding or resisting, he had been lost; he was not withdrawn, he was undrawn. Anna came to think of her “call” as a kind of reclamation, and a form of vitalisation.

14.45
Q&A

15.00
Break

15.30
Group Experiential Exercise
Interoception, the Sense of the Internal State of the Body, and Mindfulness

15.45
Graham Music
Early Trauma: Deactivated States
This practical talk will further differentiate early neglect, with its consequent shut-down states and helplessness, from the manifestations of early trauma, the symptom of which is more usually dissociation. We will hear how different bodily states and reactions are evoked in client and therapist depending on this distinction. Implications for clinical technique will be elaborated, including a more careful and embodied practice.

16.30
Q&A

16.45
Break

17.00
Graham Music and Anne Alvarez in Conversation including Q&A
An opportunity to ask Graham and Anne questions regarding the aetiology of these states, experiences in the consulting room, issues with countertransference, supervision and technique.

17.45
End

FEES

Handouts included:

Bookings close at 9.00am GMT Tuesday 2 February

Confer member:
£56
(Click here to become a member)

Self-funded:
£70

CPD

Certificates of attendance for 4 hours will be provided at the event

VENUE

This is a live online webinar using Zoom software. Zoom is free to download and use.

For more information about Zoom click here.

To download Zoom free of charge click here.

SCHEDULE

Friday
13.00 GMT (08.00 EST) Start
13.05 Dr Graham Music
13.45 Q&A
14.00 Dr Anne Alvarez
14.45 Q&A
15.00 Break
15.30 Group Experiential Exercise with Dr Graham Music
15.45 Dr Graham Music
16.30 Q&A
16.45 Break
17.00 Dr Graham Music & Dr Anne Alvarez
17.45 End

BOOKING CONDITIONS

Regrettably, refunds cannot be given in any circumstances except as follows:

  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 60 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 100% refund.
  • You cancel in writing to info@confer.uk.com 30 days before the first date of the event you have booked, in which case you will be entitled to a 50% refund.

This does not apply to parts of an event such as a seminar within a series but only to a whole event or complete series. You may give your place to another person if you let us know that person's name at least 24 hours before the event begins.

We reserve the right to change a speaker at one of our conferences without offering a refund. However, if a solo presenter cancels we will offer a full refund OR transfer of your fee to another Confer event. If the entire event is cancelled we will offer you a full refund.

We reserve the right to change our prices at any time. Regrettably, discounts offered after you made your booking cannot be claimed or applied retrospectively.