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Therapists worldwide report similar fears and challenges when working with dissociation.

Moving too quickly into trauma work can overwhelm dissociative systems.

Effective treatment requires collaboration with the system of parts, not control.

This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

In the first two posts in this series, I explored a sentence I hear often from trauma therapists on the subtle ways dissociation shows up in therapy long before anyone recognizes it. By the time clinicians begin to recognize dissociation, a new question emerges: Now what? This is where many therapists begin to feel uncertain. Not because they lack skill, but because most clinical training does not adequately prepare clinicians to work with dissociation in a nuanced and integrated way. I know this because I was one of them, and now I consult with many of them. In my consultation work with therapists around the world, I have noticed something consistent. The fears are similar. The mistakes are similar.

The uncertainty is shared. Many clinicians feel alone in this work. That matters, because when therapists feel isolated, the risk for ethical missteps and boundary challenges increases. Highly competent clinicians often find themselves asking the same questions: Am I moving too fast for this client? Am I missing something diagnostically or in their history? Am I contributing to the way this client is showing up in therapy? These questions are not a sign of inadequacy.

They are often evidence that the therapist is working at the edge of what they were trained to do. Without specific training in dissociation, certain missteps become almost inevitable, and unfortunately, those missteps can have significant consequences for the very clients therapists are trying to help.

Moving too........

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