*As requested: Dr. Damis is back to again discuss and demonstrate the use of the Ideal Caregiver Protocol from an EST perspective. I have asked him to focus more on the 'how to's this time, so we will have more time to see it demonstrated and for asking questions. But if you missed it the first time, there will still be a review of why strategies such as this can be so effective when facilitated from an EST approach keeping 'safety' in mind.

 

Ego State Therapy is a treatment of choice when working with a range of dissociative disorders. As disruptions in attachment often underlie developmental trauma and dissociative disorders, repair of these attachment disruptions facilitates modification of early internal working models and facilitates mental organization. However, these internal working attachment models reside in the implicit memory system and are not consciously accessible or modifiable. Consequently, specialized techniques for generating reparative experiences are needed to reach the implicit memory and create new positive associations. 

The Ideal Parent Figure protocol Brown and Elliott (2016) developed is an evidence-based method for adult attachment repair. However, individuals with significant histories of neglect and abuse often have attachment phobias that complicate the application of the Ideal Parent Figure (IPF) protocol. In addition, individuals with traumatized and conflicting self-states often require individualized and paced exposure to secure attachment figures.

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This workshop will delineate the application of the Ideal Parent Figure protocol in a hypnotic or non-hypnotic context nuanced to the needs for pacing and introduction to newly emerging and distressed self-states. In this regard, the use of the displacement technique as well as utilizing non-parent experiences that occur in safe-place scenes to facilitate acceptance of unfamiliar states of interpersonal security, will be reviewed. In addition, strategies for preparing clients for the use of the ideal parent figure protocol, along with managing various initial and subsequent reactions to attachment repair, will also be addressed. The workshop will
include didactic presentations, demonstrations, and the provision of specific wording to facilitate appropriate felt-sense experiences capable of modifying implicit memories of internal working models.

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Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
1. Describe the difference between explicit and implicit memory as it relates to trauma and attachment.
2. Delineate the differences between rational and experiential information processing and how to facilitate experiential information processing necessary for constructive implicit learning.
3. Utilize language and suggestions that create the needed felt sense in clients for the creation of new positive implicit associations.
4. Amplify and appropriately elaborate desired individualized mental/emotional states.
5. Apply the Ideal Parent Figure protocol in a nuanced and paced manner to facilitate client acceptance of secure attachment experiences and effectively manage common reactions to these new positive changes.