Maja Koppfeldt

Understanding and treating trauma-related dissociation : in CPTSD (complex Maja Koppfeldt

Understanding and Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation in CPTSD (Complex PTSD) and DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) following Sexual Abuse is a book primarily aimed for therapists and clinicians. The book highlights, among other things, the damage that sexual abuse of a child generates, not only acute damage in childhood but also the damage that the patient carries with her throughout life. The book follows a common thread and goes from milder sexual abuse of children to extreme, torture-like sexual abuse of children with organized and ritual elements and describes how treatment methods need to be adapted and linked to the damage that the patient has suffered through the sexual abuse. The patient's damage is measured via Wonsa's model SAIS (Sexual Abuse Injury Syndrome) which links the degree of sexual abuse the patient has been exposed to as a child and in adulthood to the patient's current symptoms with a special focus on the diagnosis of CPTSD and DID. The book describes the Top of Mind model, which is an eclectic trauma treatment method with a focus on fragmentation and memory pathways within trauma-related dissociation after sexual assault. Many therapists feel great uncertainty when they encounter a fragmented system in the therapy room, while psychotherapy can also be improved for non-multiple patients when working from the structure of a multiple. Uncovering memories via memory pathways is based on Freud's theory of free association. By moving forward in memory pathways via free association, we ensure that the patient does not become overwhelmed or stuck in the memory. As clinicians and therapists, we have an obligation to learn more about dissociation and DID, this common psychiatric diagnosis that comes from suffering and causes suffering if left untreated.