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Campaign for the Recognition and Inclusion of Dissociation and Multiplicity

Saturday 12th March 2011   A day-long event to raise awareness, share experiences and discover what all of us can do next

Working with Dissociation in Clinical Practice Using an Attachment Perspective.

18-19th June and 2-3rd July  2011, Summer course in collaboration with The Bowlby Centre 

This 4-day continuing professional development course introduces key concepts for working therapeutically from a relational perspective with adults suffering from dissociative experiences. Dissociation will be explored as a survival strategy which begins when an individual is faced with repeated early emotional, physical and/or sexual trauma at the hands of attachment figures.

Clinic for Dissociative Studies

Director  Valerie Sinason   CompanyEmail

Clinic Manager  Cate Potter  cdscpotter@aol.com

Business Manager  Beric Livingstone  beric.livingstone@clinicds.com

Telephone CompanyPhone  FAX CompanyFAX
 

The Clinic for Dissociative Studies offers individual, couples and family psychotherapy, which can be on a non-intensive or intensive basis.  Intensive psychotherapy is from twice-weekly; where necessary to aid travelling or other problems, this can be offered on the same day through a double session.

The Clinic offers multi-disciplinary assessments, which are carried out by a consultant psychologist, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst/psychotherapist.  Treatment offered is psychoanalytically-based, is tailored to suit the individual client and can include a mixture of therapies.  We can offer:

·        psychological testing of memory;

·        attachment research interviews;                   

·        risk assessments;

·        family assessment;

·        body mind consultations;

·        creative therapies;

·        access to physical treatment where necessary;

·        Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming (EMDR);

·        phone and e-mail support.

We consider that, where there has been helplessness, it is a necessary prerequisite for successful treatment that the client’s choices are respected as much as possible.  Following a client’s wishes in the first instance leads to the greatest benefit. This does not preclude our adding other interventions at a later time.  Depending on the level of need, consultations with the local support organisations are also offered when appropriate

How did the Clinic begin?

The Clinic for Dissociative Studies was established by Valerie Sinason in 1998 as a small specialist outpatient mental health service for people suffering from the range of dissociative disorders.  It was established following the completion of a Department of Health-funded research project on sadistic ritual abuse.  This project had been undertaken by Dr Rob Hale, consultant psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and Valerie Sinason, consultant child psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst, at the Portman Clinic in London.  The research project had found that a significant minority of subjects in the research sample were dissociative.  With the aid of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, the Clinic for Dissociative Studies was established as an independent provider to the NHS. 

Why was the Clinic needed?

In the United Kingdom there is very limited training in the treatment of dissociative clients.  The Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (CAPP), The Traumatic Stress Service at the Maudsley Hospital and the Pottergate Centre for Dissociation and Trauma in Norwich are organisations with relevant expertise.

Clinic Profile

CDS was set up to honour commitments to continue therapy for participants in the Department of Health study and to support new patients.  No other clinic was prepared to take them because of the effect their trauma can have on others.
 
300 ritual abuse survivors have been assessed and long term therapy provided for 30 over the last 10 years. Most victims come to the clinic for help in early adulthood when they leave home.
 
Patients who have escaped from cults have improved and recovered over a period of years during therapy.  Patients remaining in cults found it harder.