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Clinical Strategies to Help Clients Adjust After Traumatic Breakups

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Presentation on theme: "Clinical Strategies to Help Clients Adjust After Traumatic Breakups"— Presentation transcript:

1 Clinical Strategies to Help Clients Adjust After Traumatic Breakups
Presenter: Kenyatta “Kim” Wilson, LPC Wilson Professional Counseling & Consulting, LLC

2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES • List assessment tools to examine attachment styles • Summarize attachment theory as it applies to adult relationships • Describe attachment patterns and how they influence relationship dynamics • Identify interventions to help clients reduce trauma post relationship dissolution • Conduct engaging therapeutic sessions to help clients connect choice and strategies

3 Presenting Concerns in Counseling Centers
A sample of 1,308 clinicians from 84 counseling centers rated the presenting concerns of 53,194 clients using the Clinician Index of Client Concerns (CLICC) after an initial consultation.

4 Top 5 Concerns in College Counseling Centers
1. Anxiety 2. Depression 3. Stress 4. Family 5. Academic Performance

5 What happens when a breakup accompanies any of the top 5 concerns?
Breakups can lead to psychological disorders Romantic relationships are a part of social development Adjustment to a breakup is eased with awareness of errors/factors

6 Turkish Study A study assessed the ability of young adults to adjust to the breakup of a romantic relationship. The sample comprised 140 women and 143 men. The results specifically showed that initiators and mutual decision makers adjusted to breakups better than noninitiators. Negative outcomes were greater for noninitiators

7 Factors that affect breakup adjustment:
Facebook Surveillance of ex-partners (The Luie Story) Social support Initiator vs. Noninitiator of breakup Initiators may experience feelings of relief, freedom and happiness. Noninitiators may ruminate over the breakup and seek closure.

8 Factors that affect breakup adjustment:
Attachment Styles/Patterns Secure – autonomous Avoidant – dismissing Ambivalent – preoccupied Disorganized – unresolved

9

10 Attachment Research John Bowlby believed that attachment characterized human experience from "the cradle to the grave.“ By the mid-1980's, researchers began to take seriously the possibility that attachment processes may play out in adulthood.

11 Attachment Research Researchers Hazan and Shaver, noted that the relationship between infants and caregivers and the relationship between adult romantic partners share the following attachment features:

12 both feel safe when the other is nearby and responsive
both engage in close, intimate, bodily contact both feel insecure when the other is inaccessible both share discoveries with one another both play with one another's facial features and exhibit a mutual fascination and preoccupation with one another both engage in "baby talk"

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14 Post Relationship Adjustment
Anxiety Depression Shame Guilt Rejection Abandonment Getting “stuck”

15 Lisa Nowak – Former Astronaut

16 Assessing Personalities
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) The Enneagram The True Colors Personality Tests

17 Assessing Attachment Style
The Adult Attachment Interview The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System Experiences in Close Relationships Revised (ECR-R) The Attachment Style assessment (

18 INTERVENTIONS CLINICAL INTERVIEW Psychoeducation
Discuss the attachment theory and styles Explain Shame vs. guilt Distress vs. emotional growth Research

19 INTERVENTIONS Bibliotherapy Cinematherapy Music Therapy Empathy
Self-Disclosure

20 INTERVENTIONS Patterns of coping with stress (checking for generational patterns) Construct a Genogram

21 DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
interpersonal effectiveness mindfulness emotional regulation distress tolerance

22 INTERVENTIONS ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)
Clients learn to stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with their inner emotions and, instead, accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent them from moving forward in their lives.

23 Beatrice is twenty year old female junior in college
Beatrice is twenty year old female junior in college. She recently had a break-up with her boyfriend. The break-up has left her feeling depressed and insecure. She reported having body image issues and guilt surrounding food. She has not been to class in a week and wants to find a way to get back with her boyfriend.

24 SESSION WORK INTERVIEW ASSESS TREAT

25 LEARNING OBJECTIVES • List assessment tools to examine attachment styles • Summarize attachment theory as it applies to adult relationships • Describe attachment patterns and how they influence relationship dynamics • Identify interventions to help clients reduce trauma post relationship dissolution • Conduct engaging therapeutic sessions to help clients connect choice and strategies

26 REFERENCES Barutcu, F. & Demir, A (2015). Breakup Adjustment in Young Adulthood. Journal of Counseling & Development, 93, doi: /j x Bowlby, J. (1969/1982). Attachment and Loss (2nd ed., Vol. 1). New York, NY: Basic Books. Fang, S., Chung, M.C., & Watson, C. (2018). The impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms, posttraumatic stress cognitions and interpersonal dependency on psychological co-morbidities following relationship dissolution among college students. Journal of Mental Health, 27(5), Hazan, C. & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, McCarthy, C.J., Lambert, R.G., & Brack, G. (1997). Structural model of coping, appraisals and emotions after relationship breakup. Journal of Counseling & Development, 76, Sherrell, R.S. & Lambert, W.G. (2016). A Qualitative Investigation of College Students’ Facebook Usage and Romantic Relationships: Implications of College Counselors. Journal of College Counseling, 19, doi: /jocc.12037

27 THANK YOU FOR BEING AN AMAZING AUDIENCE!
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