The Best Way Out Is Always Through: Explorations in Integrating EMDR, Ego State Therapy, and Trance Phenomena to Treat Complex Trauma and Dissociation

September 21, 2023
Abstract
The relationship between trance and dissociation is well-established (Bliss, 1983) in the literature, as is EMDR’s reputation for ‘breaking’ it (Lipke, 1999). It is no surprise, then, that several important thinkers have cross-pollinated among the fields of study of hypnosis, EMDR, and dissociative disorders. Much of the current literature and workshops discuss treatment of persons with dissociative disorders based on established approaches only through the lens of a ‘finished product’. What, though, of the spark of creativity that contributes to the development of these interventions? How do the sometimes hastily combined elements used to bail a clinician out of a treatment bind later reveal themselves to be the building blocks for an effective framework or protocol? In this workshop, we will first discuss foundational considerations for the integrative treatment of persons with complex trauma and dissociative experiences. We will then explore four novel applications within this frame, beginning with the comparatively simple and concluding with a much more complex integration of approaches. We will discuss not only the interventions themselves but also the context for their initial development, to emphasize the critical importance of understanding not only a finished product but also the admixture of component elements combined to aid a client’s healing. Although a familiarity and experience with psychodynamic concepts, clinical hypnosis, Ego State Therapy (Watkins & Watkins, 1997), and EMDR therapy (Shapiro, 2018) are not required to attend, they will be variously and unavoidably necessary to implement the interventions discussed.
 
Potential to Distress:
No

Target Audience

Advanced

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:

  • Identify key elements to effectively employ the Howard Alertness Scale
  • Identify at least one element shared in common between trance and mirror neuronal function
  • Define ego cathexis and object cathexis
  • Describe at least one potential effect of reduced internal conflict
  • Define at least four of the six steps in the Introject Decathexis Protocol
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 6.00 APA
    The 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.
  • 6.00 ASWB ACE
    The 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 6.00 continuing education credits.
  • 6.00 ISSTD Certificate Program
    This program is eligible for 6.00 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.
Course opens: 
07/01/2023
Course expires: 
10/31/2023
Event starts: 
09/21/2023 - 9:00am EDT
Event ends: 
09/21/2023 - 5:00pm EDT
ISSTD Member cost:
$0.00
Part of: 
2023 Toronto Regional Conference - Day One
Add to calendar: 
Rating: 
0

Day One Schedule

8:30 - 9:00 AMRegistration and Light Continental Breakfast
9:00 - 9:10 AMThe Best Way Out Is Always Through: Explorations in Integrating EMDR, Ego State Therapy, and Trance Phenomena to Treat Complex Trauma and Dissociation (Coy)
Introduction
9:10 - 9:55 AMEstablishing a Treatment Frame
•        Three Stages of Treatment
•        Dissociation, Trance, & Trance Logic
•        Elements of an Integrative Approach
9:55 - 10:20 AMGetting In to Get Out: Re-alerting to Shift Executive Control
•        Context for a Brief Intervention
•        Case Example
10:20 - 10:30 AMQ&A
10:30 - 10:45 AMBreak
10:45 - 12:05 PMYours, Mine, Ours: Employing Trance in the Relational Field
•        A Framework for Recognizing and Bringing to Consciousness the Client’s ‘Untold Story’ 
•        Case Example
12:05 - 12:15 PMQ&A
12:15 - 1:15 PMLunch 
1:15 - 2:00 PMYou Used to Be Me: Increasing Co-conscious Awareness Between Self-states
•        Conceptualizing a More Complex Intervention
•        Case Example
2:00 - 2:30 PMA Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You: Unbinding Introjects from Trance and Trauma
•        Establishing an Integrative Approach to Resolve Entrenched Internal Conflict
2:30 - 2:45 PMQ&A
2:45 - 3:00 PMBreak
3:00 -4:30 PMA Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You: Unbinding Introjects from Trance and Trauma
•        Establishing an Integrative Approach to Resolve Entrenched Internal Conflict
4:30 - 5:00 PMDiscussion and Wrap-up

Presenter: D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW,

Presenter Biography: D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW, (he/they) is a 2006 graduate of The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. Psychodynamically grounded, Michael integrates EMDR therapy with additional training in clinical hypnosis, Ego State Therapy, Deep Brain Reorienting, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. He offers clinical consultation on diagnostic evaluation and clinical practice with persons with complex trauma and dissociative symptoms/disorders. Michael maintains a private practice in Bremerton, Washington, USA, serving emerging adults, adults, and older adults.

Michael is an EMDR Certified Approved Consultant and Trainer through the EMDR International Association and served on EMDRIA's Standards & Training committee from 2014 to 2017. From 2017-2020, Michael co-chaired the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation’s EMDR Therapy Training Task Group, which created ISSTD's EMDR therapy basic training. He now co-chairs ISSTD’s EMDR Therapy Training Committee and co-teaches the training. Michael is currently serving a three-year term on the EMDRIA Training Council.

Since 2016, Michael has collaborated with colleague Jennifer Madere and Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation (MID) developer Paul F. Dell to make the MID more accessible. He co-authored the MID Interpretive Manual, 2nd-4th Editions, and updates and manages the MID Analysis and MID website. Since 2017, Jennifer and Michael have taught and consulted for hundreds of clinicians, both in the US and internationally, on the use of the MID for diagnosis, case conceptualization, and treatment.

Michael has previously presented on his own EMDR Introject Decathexis (Id) Protocol, as well as a framework for recognizing, contextualizing, and resolving clients’ dissociated memory material communicated via mirror neuronal resonance, the integration of Ego State Therapy and EMDR, and the creative employment of trance in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation. He has also co-authored both an article and a book chapter on screening and diagnostic assessment of dissociative disorders. He has co-authored both an article on screening for dissociation in EMDR therapy and a book chapter on diagnostic instruments used to assess for dissociative disorders.

Michael was elected to ISSTD’s Board of Directors in 2017, and became Treasurer in 2018, a role in which he continues to serve. He was named a fellow of ISSTD in 2019 and has received from ISSTD the Cornelia B. Wilbur Award for Outstanding Clinical Contributions to the Treatment of Dissociative Disorders (2022), the Mid-Career Achievement Award (2021), and the President’s Award for Distinguished Service (2018, 2019, and 2021).

Participants attending Day One in full will receive six APA and ASWB continuing education credits and six ISSTD Certificate Program credits. Information about credits for each session are included in the information for each session. Participants will receive individual certificates for each session attended for the sessions which they meet the requirements for. To earn credits, participants must sign in and out of each session and attend 50 out of every 60 minutes of the session. 

This presentation has also been approved for 6 EMDRIA credits. Participants who wish to receive EMDRIA credits for this course must request them via email at [email protected] following the conference and meet the attendance requirements above to be eligible for credits.

 

Available Credit

  • 6.00 APA
    The 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.
  • 6.00 ASWB ACE
    The 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 6.00 continuing education credits.
  • 6.00 ISSTD Certificate Program
    This program is eligible for 6.00 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.

Price

ISSTD Member cost:
$0.00
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