Dissociation in Transgender Clients/Patients
Workshop Description
This workshop will explore how various forms of dissociation manifest in transgender clients and patients due to various types of trauma. The presenter posits that the experience of being trans can be, in and of itself, a traumatic experience. She labels this Traumatic Failure to Express—trauma that results when one is blocked from outwardly expressing one's internal experience. This is contrasted with Traumatic In-pression (trauma that results from something entering a person's life (or body) too suddenly and for which there's impaired ability to metabolize that experience.
The phenomenon of dissociative identity disorder (DID) will be discussed with regard to gender and the specific experience of gender dysphoria. The presenter will offer two cases for consideration and encourage workshop participants to raise questions, engage in small group discussions, and share their own experiences as mental health, medical, and other client-support practitioners.
Conference Track
Professional
Primary Contact
Laura Gardener, Lifetime Transitions
Workshop Presenters
Laura Gardener, Lifetime Transitions
Presenter Bio
Laura Gardener, MA, LMHC, has practiced as a Master's-level psychotherapist in Seattle since 1985. Her work is informed by trauma and attachment theories, and Jungian analytic psychology, to name but a few influences. She has worked extensively with clients on a wide variety of issues and symptomatology including depression, anxiety, dissociation, individuation, creativity, and gender identification. She's also a yoga therapist/teacher, professional musician, postpartum doula, and proud trans lesbian woman.