Across the globe at this time, trauma is abundant. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical strife, there are compounding challenges faced by marginalized populations.

This workshop will provide cutting-edge training on the organized abuse of children and adults from two international leaders in the study of extreme abuse. Professionals in a range of sectors continue to encounter children and adults with dissociative disorders who disclose early traumatization and severe exploitation within abusive families and criminal networks, including sadism, ritual and torture.

This presentation discusses the neurobiology of dissociation as a post-traumatic response and its relationship to autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, including the underlying physiological mechanisms and defense cascade in response to stressors. Animal models including fight, flight, freezing and tonic mobility, including the involvement of endogenous opioid activation in these states are explored.