We are at the conference in Florida!

It’s been super intense, with lots of triggers and difficult content.

But it’s also been amazing, watching people care for each other well, survivors support one another, and seeing friends practicing such good self-care. We are really blown away by it all! It’s been too much for us for very much social interaction, but we have learned a lot and are proud to be here.

We attended one session this morning and one session this afternoon. You can here about it on Dr. E’s podcast, Healing Together, Part 1. We tried to take lots of notes for our therapist, and will talk about them with her, but also shared with you what we learned. Here are some of the graphics we discussed in the podcast:

One thing that was completely unexpected about this conference has been the sense of community.

Here, people are very open about their DID, and there is a movement of “pride” within the plural community.

It’s been touching to see the power of connecting with others, even within our own limitations, and the vulnerable sharing of participants in different sessions.

It’s given me new insights, even, into our own podcast and why we started it - not just to face fears about recording ourselves, or to educate via podcast since we had only found YouTube videos, or even to document our own progress… but also to simply speak up, to break our silence, to use our own voice.

That’s been a pretty powerful realization, no matter what we learned today or what we learn tomorrow.

If you listened to episode seven of season two, you heard Sasha talk about being in four sessions of group with The Crisses from Liberated Life Coaching. We are excited that they will soon be a guest on the podcast!

But one thing we mentioned in this episode was that The Crisses had identified EIGHT panic responses to trauma or other triggers. Most people know about fight, flight, and freeze. Fight means dealing with it head on, and flight means running away from it, and freeze means hiding in some way.

Some people are also now getting more familiar with the fawn response (being “too good” in hopes for safety).

But The Crisses have also identified four others:

Follow - going along with the abuser or trigger, like joining in with them for safety;

Fortify - making higher “walls” and stronger defenses than before;

Fabricate - changing the story so it’s not so scary (including denial);

Facilitate - empowering yourself for positive change and healing in even little ways.

These are amazing! CLICK HERE to listen to their podcast about the 8 F’s!

Our special guest in Episode Nine is Colin A. Ross, MD.

Colin A. Ross, M.D completed medical school at the University of Alberta and his psychiatry training at the University of Manitoba in Canada. He is a Past President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, and is the author of over 220 papers and 30 books. He has spoken widely throughout North America and Europe, and in China, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. He has been a keynote speaker at many different conferences, and has reviewed for over 30 different professional journals.

Dr. Ross is the Director of hospital-based Trauma Programs in Denton, Texas, Torrance, California and Grand Rapids, Michigan. He provides weekly cognitive therapy groups at all three locations, in person in Texas and by video-conference in Michigan and California. He has been running a hospital Trauma Program in the Dallas area since moving to Texas in 1991.

Dr. Ross’ books cover a wide range of topics. His clinical books focus on trauma and dissociation and include: Dissociative Identity Disorder. Diagnosis, Clinical Features and Treatment of Multiple Personality, Second Edition (1997); Schizophrenia: Innovations in Diagnosis and Treatment (2004); The Trauma Model: A Solution to the Problem of Comorbidity in Psychiatry (2007); Trauma Model Therapy: A Treatment Approach for Trauma Dissociation and Complex Comorbidity (2009); Structural Dissociation: A Proposed Modification of the Theory (2013); and Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder: Techniques and Strategies for Stabilization (2018).

Dr. Ross has published a series of treatment outcome studies in peer-reviewed journals, which provide evidence for the effectiveness of Trauma Model Therapy. Many of his papers involve large series of cases, with original research data and statistical analyses, including a paper entitled ‘Trauma and Dissociation in China” in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Besides his clinical psychiatry interests, Dr. Ross has published papers and books on cancer and human energy fields, as well as literary works including essays, fiction, poetry and screenplays. He has several different hobbies including travel.

Here is where, at the very beginning of this video, he shares his story of how he learned about dissociation and became interested in studying it and aware of the need to publish about it:

CLICK HERE for the link to his research website, the Colin Ross Institute.

CLICK HERE for the new Trauma Education Essentials website for clinicians, including a newsletter, webinars, and trainings, which Dr. Ross is doing with his daughter, Dr. Dana Ross.

CLICK HERE for more information about his inpatient treatment programs.