IITAP Webinar with Dr. Katehakis | Sex Addiction as Affect Dysregulation: A Neurobiologically-Informed Holistic Treatment

Affective neuroscience–the study of how emotions actually grow the brain and nervous system–shows that most of our psychological, intellectual, and even physical growth depends on attachment patterns we (or more correctly, our brains and bodies) learn during infancy. It also demonstrates how early developmental or relational trauma hurts not just our feelings but our cognitive and behavioral capacities as well, making us susceptible later to psychopathology. With hobbled capacities for self-regulation, self-reflection, self-differentiation, somatic awareness, and insight into self or others, sex addicts can’t tolerate long-term intimacy.

Truly being known by another (lover or therapist) threatens to bring back the shame and self-loathing experienced in repeated losses of emotional attunement with their caregiver. These findings allow us to understand and treat sex addicts as regulation-impaired due to a fundamental attachment disorder. A holistic model for healing that includes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and affect regulation therapy (ART) will be presented. Emphasis will be on the dyadic interaction between therapist and patient and the co-regulatory processes occurring that begin to decrease defenses and the fear of facing pain while increasing the capacity for human relatedness.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:

  1. Understand regulation theory as the bedrock for working with dissociative defenses toward facilitating long-term growth and change.
  2. Be able to formulate the difference between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and affect regulation therapy (ART).
  3. Conceptualize sex addicts as regulation impaired, define the accompanying attachment categories and how both inform treatment.
  4. Understand the importance of working with somatic transference and countertransference in order to increase their capacity for tolerating dyadic affective states.
  5. Attune to interpersonal synchrony as a right-brain-to-right- brain communication necessary for body-to-body co-regulation.

IITAP Community: $195 per training

Non-CSAT Licensed Clinicians: $250 per training (space permitting)

Register for this course here.

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Affirmative Care

LGBTQIA2S+ challenges can include discrimination, marginalization, trauma, expressing authentic gender and sexual identities, shame & guilt deconstruction, anxiety, depression, relationship struggles and more.

 

LGBTQIA2S+

LGBTQIA2S+ challenges can include discrimination, marginalization, trauma, expressing authentic gender and sexual identities, shame & guilt deconstruction, anxiety, depression, relationship struggles and more.