Facebook
X
LinkedIn
ForwardInfanticidal Attachment and Chronic Suicidality
Abstract
Chronic suicidality in survivors of complex trauma is routinely assessed with instruments that presume a single continuous self capable of reporting its own intent, which dissociation complicates. This webinar examines infanticidal attachment, the pattern in which a child organizes attunement around a caregiver's orientation toward the child's death, whether symbolic or concrete, and the chronic suicidality that can follow into adulthood, carried in early social contracts, emotional flashbacks, and implicit memory. Understanding this in context requires a genealogy: one line runs from Janet's account of divided consciousness through Freud's turn toward intrapsychic fantasy, Ferenczi's dissenting recognition of identification with the aggressor, the long marginalization that followed, and Bromberg's reframing of multiplicity as normal developmental organization. A second runs from Bowlby through the disorganization research of Main, Hesse, and Lyons-Ruth. These converge in Barach's linking of attachment and dissociation, and then also in Freyd's betrayal trauma theory, Ana Gómez's framing of attachment as strategy rather than style, and the work of Adah Sachs, brought forward in Valerie Sinason's edited volume on attachment, trauma, and multiplicity. Herman, Courtois, and Ford situate these patterns within coercive relational systems, where suicidality can function as protest. Ethical tensions follow, since prevailing codes and risk protocols assume a unitary client and since hospitalization can reenact the coercion a survivor has already endured. Applied material includes the evidence against no-suicide contracts and collaborative, consent-based safety planning, with the SOAP-C documentation framework provided as a handout.
Potential to Distress: Yes
Target Audience
Those seeking to participate in this webinar must be licensed mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, mental health counselors, accredited psychotherapists, etc.). ISSTD staff will audit license information prior to the start of the course and may request additional documentation for your license.
We do accept students enrolled in a program of study leading to a degree or certification in the mental health field and who have an interest in trauma and dissociation. Students must submit proof of student status such as a transcript or registration record. For those who have completed their degree and are currently in the pre-licensure stage practicing under the license of another clinician, you must provide the name and license information for the person you are working with. Documentation should be sent to ISSTD staff at [email protected] before registering.
This webinar is at the Beginning/Introductory Learning Level.
Learning Objectives
Upon Completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:
- Describe the theoretical lineage through which attachment and dissociation converged in the concept of infanticidal attachment
- Explain how attachment and dissociation converged theoretically, from Janet and Bowlby through Barach, Freyd, and Ana Gómez
- Describe infanticidal attachment in its symbolic and concrete forms and its relationship to disorganized attachment
- Apply a parts-based framework to suicide risk assessment when dissociative barriers may conceal intent from the presenting part
- Critique the use of no-suicide contracts and coercive risk protocols with clients presenting with chronic suicidality and dissociation
Presenter: Emma Sunshaw PhD, LCPC
Presenter Bio: Emma Sunshaw earned her BS in Human Development, her MS in Professional Counseling, her MDiv in Pastoral Counseling, and her PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. She works as licensed clinical counselor. She serves as the ISSTD Professional Training Program Administrator, numerous committees and workgroups, moderates the annual DID Awareness Day webinar, and is currently a member of the ISSTD Professional Training Program faculty. She won the ISSTD Presidents Award of Distinction in 2021 and became an ISSTD Fellow in 2024.
As a licensed clinical counselor, she has been in private practice since 2004, with additional experience in ER triage, inpatient psychiatric, residential treatment, school-based, and outpatient settings. Dr. Sunshaw has served as the international clinical coordinator for humanitarian aid organizations offering counseling and trauma resiliency training to government leaders, humanitarian aid workers, and first responders in war zones, refugee camps, and natural disaster sites.
Besides numerous syndicated articles online about mental health issues, she is the author of the 2019 EJTD article about DID and the Online Community. She is the editor of a clinical compilation book written by several ISSTD members, “Perspectives of Dissociative Identity Response: Ethical, Historical, and Cultural Issues”. She is also the author of a "if tears were prayers", a memoir about Dissociative Identity Disorder, as well as a lived experience interactive workbook for those with dissociative disorders, which won the 2022 Media Award from ISSTD. Her book, “The Problem with Complex Trauma Therapy” was published in 2024.
She lectures internationally about trauma and resiliency, and they are the voice behind "System Speak: A Podcast About Dissociative Identity Disorder", which airs in 103 countries around the world thus far, and which won the 2020 ISSTD Media award from ISSTD.
Available Credit
- 1.50 APAThe International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- 1.50 ASWB ACEThe International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), #1744, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/20/2024 – 08/20/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1.50 continuing education credits.
- 1.50 ISSTD Certificate ProgramThis program is eligible for 1.50 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.
Price
"Your Price" above reflects your final price based on your membership status and career level.
- ISSTD defines a student as those enrolled in a program of study leading to a degree or certification in the mental health field and who have an interest in trauma and dissociation.
- ISSTD defines an emerging professional as mental health professionals who have completed an advanced degree and are in the first three years of their career (or first three years after graduation for researchers).
- If you do not fall into one of the above categories please register as Professional/Retired.
These prices are for Tier I countries. For a list of countries by Tier click here. If you are located in a country that falls into Tier II-VI please contact ISSTD at [email protected] to receive the appropriate discount code.
Registration Policies
Cancellations prior to the webinar are subject to a $10 cancellation fee. No refunds are provided for no shows. The deadline for cancellations with a refund is August 3, 2026 at 5:00pm US Eastern Time. Requests for cancellation should be sent to [email protected].
For additional webinar policies including completion requirements, filing grievances, requesting a disability accommodation, and awarding of certificates of credits, please visit our Webinar Policies page.