Conversations on Trauma with Sebern Fisher
The Nature of Forgetting:
Neurofeedback and Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Dissociative Disorders
Webinar Overview
This live lecture series will explore the latest neuroscience research in developmental trauma and discuss how its findings challenge the prevailing belief that dissociation, repression, resistance and regression are primarily psychological defence mechanisms, at least in those with histories of neglect and abuse in childhood. We will instead address them as they are -habitual firing patterns in the brain that form in response to survival threats early in life. When there are enough fearful stimuli the brain tends to return to its earliest patterns of protection.
The neuroscience of trauma is clearly indicating that we must change these habitual firing patterns in the brain.  Presently the only way we know to do this is with neurofeedback. We will review protocols that help those who have never experienced a sense of self and other to develop this capacity, primarily but not solely through affect regulation. And we will look at how all of this plays out in the therapy relationship, particularly with the “treatment-resistant” patients. We will discuss why these patients need highly skilled therapists who understand the brain dynamics underlying
interpersonal ones.​
Beginning on February 16-17 and running through March 22-23, Sebern Fisher will be presenting a 6-part live webinar series on dissociation and its disorders called the Nature of Forgetting, where she will explore how the cerebellum and the brain stem factor in these disorders. This research calls for clinicians and treatment researchers to focus on how we can reach the brain particularly for those who suffer what we now see as treatment resistant disorders most of which relate to developmental trauma.
Learning objectives for participants:
- Explore the emerging neuroscience of trauma and dissociation
- Describe the neurocircuitry of dissociation
- Describe the default mode network (DMN) and its relationship to the sense of self in developmental trauma
- Discuss how understanding the circuitry and frequency dimensions of dissociation, repression, resistance and regression deepen our understanding of these processes.
- Investigate protocols that interrupt or quiet the repeated firing of fear circuits and the presumed mechanisms of action of these protocols
- Provide an overview of the challenges and benefits in integrating neurofeedback with psychotherapy in the treatment of those suffering with dissociative disorders.
Dates (2020):
- Feb 16-17 time: 4pm EST (8am AEDT)
- Feb 23-24 time: 4pm EST (8am AEDT)
- Mar 01-02 time: 4pm EST (8am AEDT)
- Mar 08-09 time: 5pm EDT (8am AEDT)
- Mar 15-16 time: 5pm EDT (8am AEDT)
- Mar 22-23 time: 5pm EDT (8am AEDT)
For Training Trauma questions: info@trainingtrauma.org
Sebern's book
