Janina Fisher, PhD is the author of When Intimacy Feels Unsafe: Healing the Trauma Legacy in Couples Therapy.

This is a description.

Attachment formation and capacity for mutuality can be affected by early childhood trauma. Traumatized couples are driven by powerful wishes for and fears of closeness instead of experiencing relationships as a haven of safety. When conflictual patterns are disrupted, couples can address the intense responses and impulsive reactions that undermine all sense of safety and hope and recreate the experience of threat in the body and in the relationship.

The educational objectives are listed.

1. Discuss the neurobiological consequences of traumatic experience on individu- als and couples.
2. Identify signs of traumatic attachment in dyadic interaction.
3. Describe a trauma-focused paradigm for high-conflict couple relationships.

Session may be edited to preserve confidentiality.