Overview
Many, if not most, patients faced with complex mental health problems have experienced early adversities, including traumas, that lie at the root of their current struggles. In general, these adverse experiences interfere with the fulfillment of universal emotional needs that children have. As a result, dysfunctional representations (schemas) of the self, others, and the world develop that usually contain strong emotional meanings. In an attempt to deal with such emotional memories, dysfunctional strategies are often used, that lead to and maintain psychopathological symptoms. Moreover, such strategies interfere with functioning and reduce quality of life. Many treatments, whether psychological or pharmacological, focus on trying to get patients out of their current problematic state, without addressing the underlying representations. This negligence is probably related to the limited success and high relapse rates that are so common in treatments, for example in the case of depression.
This plenary lecture will argue that a focus on the unmet emotional needs of patients during their development and the associated emotional memories/schemas helps to bring about lasting change. It will also highlight some central therapeutic techniques to accomplish this, varying from the therapeutic relationship to trauma/emotional memory processing techniques. The essence in these techniques is that offering corrective experiences when the emotional memory is activated leads to stable recovery.
Speakers
Chair: Professor Subodh Dave, Dean, Royal College of Psychiatrists
Professor Emeritus Arnoud Arntz, University of Amsterdam
