Therapists frequently confront the negative impact of shame on their clients’ ability to find relief and perspective. Feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy interfere with taking in positive experiences, leaving only hopelessness. Attempts to increase their ability for self-assertion get undermined by beliefs that they do not deserve respect or care. Even progress in the treatment or greater success in life stimulate more shame and self-judgment rather than pride in their hard work. The client repeatedly takes two steps forward, then one step back.
This workshop will introduce participants to understanding shame from a neurobiological perspective—as a survival strategy driving somatic responses of “total submission,” disconnection, and numbing. Participants will learn to help clients relate to their shame with curiosity rather than self-hatred. When traditional psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural techniques are integrated with Sensorimotor Psychotherapy interventions emphasizing posture, movement, and gesture, issues of shame can become an avenue to transformation rather than a source of stuckness in the treatment.
There will be a 10-minute break half-way through the class.
12:45 pm – 4:00 pm
