Morning Session
Attachment Style and Addictions Treatment: Opportunities and Challenges to Restoring Mentalizing
Dr. Michael Groat, Phd and James Sargent, LCDC
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Addiction can be reframed as an attachment disorder induced by a
person’s misguided attempt to self-regulate emotional states that result
from early environmental deficits and trauma in the creation of the
psychic structure. Substance abuse, as a reparative attempt only leads
to a cycle of further deterioration in self-care, capacity for
mentalizing and consequent psychic suffering. For over 25 years, The
Menninger Clinic, an affiliate of Baylor College of Medicine, has helped
professionals who have trouble managing their work and personal
relationships due to psychiatric disorders and/or addictions. This
workshop will review the basic patterns of secure and insecure
attachment within this population and explore the link between
attachment security and mentalizing. Case examples will demonstrate how
mentalizing can be restored in the context of interventions that target
attachment styles.
Afternoon Session
Addiction: Why are some of us more vulnerable than others?
Edward Khantzian, MD
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
This is an opportunity to hear one of the true masters of
psychological theory, Dr. Edward Khantzian, MD discuss psychodynamic
theory of addictive disorders. Modern neuroscientific approaches have
made enormous strides in mapping and documenting what addictive drugs do
to the brain. Although many of the investigators involved in such
studies are well established as psychiatric and psychological
investigators, they often invoke “reward and the pleasure pathways” to
explain the appeal of addictive drugs. Yet, addictive vulnerability has
less to do with reward and pleasure and more to do with psychological
suffering. As humans we face lifelong challenges to regulate our
emotions, self-esteem and relationships. Addictive drugs interact with
the pain and distress these challenges can produce and provide relief.
This presentation will review self-medication theory and foster understanding of addiction as a human process.
REGISTER HERE: http://socialwork.adelphi.edu/conted
