Epstein, Orit Badouk (London/UK)
From proximity seeking to relationship seeking Working towards separation from the abusive group
As with all insecure attachment styles, the clinical work with the preoccupied/disorganised clients often entails the gathering of internal and external records of the accumulative traumatic events and dysregulatory experiences, sustained early on in life by their care givers that can only give rise to forces that interfere with the client’s movement towards mental wellbeing.
The journey I embark upon with my preoccupied/disorganised clients, therefore, is not so dissimilar to the one I have with all my other clients but one that more painfully confronts the client's need to mourn their relentless disappointment in their wistful searching and yearning for the ideal care-giver.
We also need to pay attention to the client’s vested interest empowered by a protective need to keep things exactly as they have always been, and by doing so, feeling helplessness and indecisiveness and 'sitting on the fence' . In doing so, the client is not fully aware of his need to constantly recreate the past in the present. This presentation is meant to shed some light into the work with these clients and share some effective ways of overcoming the client's feeling of being stuck in relentless hope.
CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)
Orit Badouk Epstein is an Attachment based Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, a supervisor (UKCP registered), writer, and teacher who specialises in Attachment theory and trauma. She teaches Attachment theory and is the organiser and chair of the International Bowlby Memorial conference.
She runs a private practice and works relationally with individuals, couples and parents. Orit has a particular interest in working with individuals who have experienced extreme abuse and trauma and have displayed symptoms of dissociation. She is the co-author of the book “Ritual Abuse and Mind Control: the Manipulation of Attachment Needs and is the Editor of the journal ATTACHMENT-New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis (published by Karnac) and Co-Editor of ESTD newsletter.