Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. habil. Karl Heinz Brisch specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy, adult psychiatry and neurology, including psychosomatic medicine, psychoanalysis, trauma psychotherapy, and group psychoanalysis.

Dr. Brisch holds the first ever Chair in Early Life Care at Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria. He also lectures at the Psychoanalytic Institute in Stuttgart, Germany.

For many years, he was head of the Department of Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital at the University of Munich, Germany.

Dr. Brisch’s main research and clinical interest is in early child development and attachment psychotherapy in all age groups.

He has published numerous books, papers, and articles on attachment development in high-risk infants and clinical attachment research. He developed the prevention programs SAFE® - Secure Attachment Family Education and B.A.S.E.® - Babywatching for use in educational and other settings.

He is a founding member of the German-Speaking Association for Infant Mental Health (GAIMH) and led the organization for many years. www.khbrisch.de

Attachment theory in a nutshell – a summary

Important basic concepts of attachment theory will be summarized at the beginning of the conference. Understanding these concepts can help all participants to follow presentations from the spheres of clinical practice, research, and prevention so that they may better participate in the ensuing discussion.

Siblings with early trauma and their inpatient intensive psychotherapeutic care: Special treatment challenges

When several siblings in a family are traumatized as a result of neglect or emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, all of the children require therapeutic help. Should these children be treated individually, successively, or simultaneously on an inpatient basis? Should the necessary therapy be conducted by different therapists who exchange information under supervision? How does a perpetrator's demand that the children remain silent get worked out when siblings of different ages are in inpatient treatment at the same time? Is it absolutely necessary to treat siblings together at the same time, who may have supported and protected each other emotionally to the extent they were able? After all, they may continue to need and welcome this support to engage positively in therapy. This presentation will examine the implications of various approaches to sibling therapy, along with clinical experience and results from a variety of inpatient settings.

Attachment relationships between stepsiblings and stepparents: A potentially traumatizing enmeshment

Stepmothers are often portrayed negatively in fairytales. But because of the increasing number of patchwork families, more and more children and parents are facing issues surrounding becoming a stepparent or welcoming a stepbrother or stepsister. All parties to this situation are challenged to enter into new attachment relationships with new family members who are not always voluntarily chosen. In the best case scenario, the stepparents and stepsiblings are able to function as secure attachment figures for the new family member, providing a child with the necessary attachment resources; in the worst case, relationships come to be marked by loyalty conflicts, rejection, rivalry, and envy. In some instances, the resultant emotional abuse and trauma may require therapeutic intervention and support. If such support is not available, the emotional injuries may last a lifetime. This presentation will discuss potential dynamic enmeshments between the various family members, as well as approaches to therapeutic intervention.