Understanding Family Legacy in Addiction with Claudia Black, PhD

Included:  Continental Breakfast and Lunch

The Addictive Family: The Legacy of Trauma

When people think of trauma they so often think of acute dramatic situations such as a natural disaster or car accident. Yet the majority of people who experience trauma experience a more subtle and chronic form that exists within their own family situation. Beginning with a genogram, Claudia will give a portrait of addiction in the family, offering an overlay of how adverse child experiences, emotional abandonment and blatant violence are all aspects of the trauma within the addictive family. She will offer an understanding of how trauma in one’s history is clearly connected to multi-addictive and co-occurring disorders. 

Addictive Disorders: The Legacy of Shame

To grow up with the dynamics of loss, be it from living with addiction, violence or simply unavailable parents, creates a legacy of internalized shame. Denial is the central feature in addictive/compulsive processes and shame is the core issue from which people need to heal.  Claudia will describe the underpinnings and consequences to shame-based beliefs that fuel the compulsive processes. She will identify and explain shame screens such as victimization, depression, rage, procrastination and control.

Facing Sexual Betrayal, Lies and Secrets

Most couples have both spoken and unspoken commitments that say sex stays within the relationship. Unfortunately, these expectations are a façade for many people’s coupleship. Today throughout every community women and men are being challenged by the addictive nature of their partner’s sexual behavior. In this presentation Claudia will discuss the many facets of co-sex addiction and the dynamics of recovery, exploring attributes common to the partner, cultural and familial influences. She will describe a three part recovery focus offering the audience a framework for treatment. This is a confusing and painful situation that Claudia addresses with great empathy and direction for both the professional and impacted client.

Objectives: Participants will be able to:

•    Identify how the trauma responses of flight, fight and freeze become acted out in the family impacted by addiction 
•    Describe relationship of trauma to multi-addictive and co-occurring disorders
•    Describe the relationship of abandonment and boundary distortion to the creation of unhealthy shame
•    List shame screens common to those impacted by addiction
•    Identify three phase treatment process for partners living with sex addiction
•    List elements of trauma repetition
•    Describe parameters for healthy disclosure
•    Identify dynamics within  the metaphor of “carrying baggage” to create eclectic treatment planning