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Brain-to-Brain: Mastering the Neurobiological Waltz
Clients raised by neglectful and frightening caregivers may as adults find themselves living with an unconscious somatic legacy of early traumatic attachment, yearning for closeness but unable to tolerate or sustain intimacy. Even their nervous systems rebel against physical proximity to others, or can’t tolerate being without proximity. As a result, their relationships—even with therapists—are tumultuous. The necessary strategy for working with these clients is coregulation, an approach that doesn’t depend on words but rather on a brain-to-brain neurobiological waltz that relies on the therapist’s attunement to implicit emotional and somatic communication. You’ll explore how to:
- Recognize certain core issues in the therapeutic alliance—such as idealization and devaluing, stuckness, struggles for control, and abandonment fears—as manifestations of traumatic attachment
- Become skilled at “right brain to right brain” communication, or being able to “talk” without words
- Engage in a “dyadic dance” with your clients, mirroring their rhythms, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures
OUTLINE
- Therapeutic relationship as dance between attachment systems
- Impact of early childhood experiences on attachment and affect regulation
Arousal and self-regulation
Secure v. insecure context
- Brain structures and systems related to self-regulation of affect
Functions of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system
Consequences of hypoarousal and hyperarousal
- Unconscious nature of early attachment experiences
Body memory/somatic learning
Approach v. avoidance
- Therapeutic relationship and managing sense of threat
Styles of attachment
Unconscious nature of body memory
Nonverbal cues and therapeutic communication
- Successful regulation of arousal
Optimal window of arousal
Sources of therapist dysregulation
Identifying somatic transference and countertransference
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Impact of internal dialog, labeling
Mind/body integration
Integrating mindfulness practices
- Co-regulation in interpersonal psychotherapy
Effective methods of communication
Connecting and integrating sensory perceptions
Experimentation as technique
- Working brain to brain
Role of mirror neurons
Social engagement system
Flowing with resistance
- Summary
OBJECTIVES
- Explore how to recognize certain core issues in the therapeutic alliance—such as idealization and devaluing, stuckness, struggles for control, and abandonment fears—as manifestations of traumatic attachment
- Explore how to become skilled at “right brain to right brain” communication, or being able to “talk” without words
- Explore how to engage in a “dyadic dance” with your clients, mirroring their rhythms, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures
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Satisfaction Guarantee
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Janina Fisher, PhD
Janina Fisher, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and former instructor at The Trauma Center, a research and treatment center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known as an expert on the treatment of trauma, Dr. Fisher has also been treating individuals, couples, and families since 1980.
She is past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, Assistant Educational Director of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of the neurobiological research and newer trauma treatment paradigms into traditional therapeutic modalities.
She is co-author with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma (2015) and author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation (2017) and the forthcoming book, Working with the Neurobiological Legacy of Trauma (in press).
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Janina Fisher has an employment relationship with the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute. She is a consultant for Khiron House Clinics and the Massachusetts Department of MH Restraint and Seclusion Initiative. Dr. Fisher receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. Dr. Fisher has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Janina Fisher is on the advisory board for the Trauma Research Foundation. She is a patron of the Bowlby Center.
