The Impact of Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect in Narcissistic Family Systems | In-person | Friday, February 21, 2025 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm | McHenry County Mental Health Board, 620 Dakota Street in Crystal Lake | Presented by Dr. Lora Wiens. EVENT FLYER
REGISTER HERE! 1 hour lunch on your own.
FREE: 5 IDFPR CEUs for LSW/LCSW, LPC/LCPC, Psychologists, and IAODAPCA
SUMMARY
Many of our clients are impacted by Narcissistic Abuse & Neglect, both in childhood and throughout their adult lives. When we talk about Narcissism, we tend to focus on NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Instead, my focus will all children who grow up in home with Narcissistic Abuse & Neglect, i.e. Narcissistic Family Systems, must develop self-protective strategies that extend into adolescence and adulthood. Only some of those children develop NPD in adulthood. I’ll explain these self-protective strategies in the context of basic mammalian defenses, i.e. fight, flight, freeze, faun, submit. I will also talk about how the impact of Narcissistic Abuse & Neglect is moderated by Attachment security. Finally, I’ll talk about ways to help clients recover from Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
OBJECTIVES
- To help clinicians understand the definitions of Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
- To help clinicians understand why Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect produce ongoing feelings of shame and humiliation.
- To help clinicians understand why experiencing Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect in childhood is especially traumatic and can contribute to the development of multiple life-long trauma-based disorders.
- To help clinicians understand how Attachment security is a protective variable and Disorganized Attachment is a risk factor when examining the impact of Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
- To help clinicians understand the definition of a “Narcissistic Family System.”
- To help clinicians understand the definition of a “Narcissistic Defense.”
- To help clinicians understand why Narcissistic Abuse is self-protective and is a natural “fight” response learned by child victims of Narcissistic abuse.
- To help clinicians understand why “fawning” is an adaptive way of relating to others for people who grew up with Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect and how to recognize it in interactions with your clients.
- To help clinicians understand the multiple “flight” responses learned by children in Narcissistic Family Systems who cannot flee physically, including attempts to hiding, addiction, fantasy, and Dissociation.
- The understand the multiple “submit” responses learned by children in Narcissistic Family Systems, including voluntary and involuntary defenses.
- To understand how to use this knowledge to sensitively educate your clients who have been impacted by Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
- To help clinicians who work with children to identify when children they are working with are impacted by Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
- To understand some strategies for reducing shame and humiliation in clients who have been impacted by Narcissistic Abuse and Neglect.
- To help clinicians use this knowledge and understanding to be able to better manage difficult transference/countertransference issues with clients who grew up in Narcissistic Family Systems.
PRESENTER
Dr. Lora Wiens, LCP, is a trauma specialist who helps to train other therapists to treat highly traumatized people. They have a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Masters degree in Philosophy. Dr. Wiens early career experience was working in Community Mental Health with children, adolescents, and adults who were experiencing severe mental illness that interfered with their ability to function.
For 14 years, Dr. Wiens was a clinician at the Samaritan Counseling Center in Barrington, IL. During that time, they have developed their primary specialty of helping people recover from Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders. As part of this specialization, they completed a two-year training program in Dissociative Disorders with the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISST-D) in 2012 and have been active as a leader and a member of a local chapter of the ISST-D.
In their transition to co-owning Hope & Healing Psychotherapy with Dr. Kate Curtis, Dr. Wiens will be putting more energy into helping therapists grow and passing on what they learned as a trauma specialist.
