The trauma after the trauma: EMDR psychotherapy for betrayal trauma experienced by the military and first responders

Caring for emotional and physical needs of professionals exposed to life and death situations and the most difficult of human suffering takes its toll on those in the trenches. These exposures can lead to direct (line-of-duty) traumas and/or vicarious trauma. This workshop will focus on a form of betrayal trauma experienced by veterans and first responders after line-of-duty trauma due to lack of support from families, departments, municipalities, and communities. Freyd's definitions of betrayal and institutional trauma (1996, 2011) which "occur when the people or institutions on which a person depends for survival significantly violate that person's trust or well being", is expanded in this workshop as it relates to the psychological, dissociative, and traumatic sequalae to vets, police officers, firefighters, and therapists. Focus will be placed on case conceptuatlization and clinical skills in adhering to the EMDR protocol for treatment of veterans and first responders exposed to trauma in the line of duty and the cascading aftereffects of betrayal trauma. Videos and case presentations of a veteran, police officer, and firefighter will be presented to teach participants how to listen for, identify, and treat betrayal trauma through the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP) lens of EMDR treatment.

Conference

English

Karen Alter-Reid
Jamie Zabukovec
Robbie Adler-Tapia

Alter-Reid, K., Zabukovec, J., & Adler-Tapia, R. (2014, October). The trauma after the trauma: EMDR psychotherapy for betrayal trauma experienced by the military and first responders. Presentation at the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation 31th Annual International Conference, Long Beach, CA