Mindfulness, Compassion, and Modern Psychology in Trauma Therapy

Based on two upcoming books, Principles of Trauma Therapy, 2nd edition (in press) and The Pain Paradox: Trauma, Psychology, and Buddhism (in progress), John Briere introduces a new workshop on the treatment of complex trauma. This nonpathologizing approach presents four pathways to trauma resolution: reworking activated attachment schemas in the presence of a compassionate and attuned therapist; reducing negative emotional responses to memory by encouraging awareness and mindfulness during emotional processing; increasing capacity to regulate and tolerate negative emotional states (equanimity); and helping to change the client’s relationship to his or her internal experience through greater metacognitive awareness of the difference between self-generated thoughts and actual facts.

John integrates Buddhist concepts of impermanence, interconnectedness (dependent arising), and loving-kindness into trauma therapy, and reveals how this ancient philosophy can inform and improve modern approaches to treatment — especially with respect to the suffering associated with trauma. He calls on both perspectives to emphasize the importance of integrated awareness, and provides techniques helpful, in particular, for Western forms of avoidance and distraction, including substance abuse, dissociation, self-injury, and other seemingly dysfunctional behaviours. John highlights the notion that unconditional positive regard for the client rests less on his or her likeability or challenging nature than on the therapist’s learnable capacity to “see” the client as he or she actually is.

You will learn —

• A model of trauma and posttraumatic outcomes that integrate Western and Buddhist psychologies and do not pathologize the client
• How to apply broad-band therapeutic exposure methodologies that decrease the chances of overwhelming the trauma client and increase the ability to facilitate complex trauma processing
• How to help the client develop metacognitive awareness, trigger identification, and other approaches to affect regulation/tolerance
• The psychological and neurobiological effects of compassion on the therapist and client
• Mindfulness techniques to decrease countertransference and increase equanimity and attunement

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