EMDR Complex PTSD & Dissociative Disorders 4

Question 1

A client with CPTSD demonstrates emotional dysregulation characterized by rapid cycling between extreme emotions and sudden emotional shutdown. This pattern is best understood through which lens?

Accepted Answer

Polyvagal theory — oscillation between sympathetic activation and dorsal vagal shutdown

Answer

Polyvagal theory explains this cycling as the nervous system shifting between sympathetic fight/flight hyperarousal and dorsal vagal freeze/collapse, both defensive responses to perceived threat.

Question 2

Which dissociative disorder is characterized by sudden unexpected travel away from home, inability to recall one's past, and confusion about identity or assumption of a new identity?

Accepted Answer

Dissociative Amnesia with Dissociative Fugue specifier

Answer

Dissociative fugue is a specifier of Dissociative Amnesia in DSM-5, involving purposeful travel, identity confusion, and autobiographical memory loss.

Question 3

In complex trauma treatment with EMDR, the 'Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment' (TIST) model by Janina Fisher emphasizes which core principle for affect dysregulation?

Accepted Answer

Helping clients befriend and regulate parts rather than suppress them

Answer

Fisher's TIST model uses parts language and mindful awareness to help clients develop a compassionate, curious relationship with their parts, building regulation capacity.

Question 4

When establishing a Positive Cognition (PC) during EMDR Phase 3 with a CPTSD client, which modification is often necessary compared to standard protocol?

Accepted Answer

The PC must be validated by all relevant internal parts before proceeding

Answer

With complex and dissociative clients, checking that relevant parts of the self endorse the positive cognition prevents internal conflict that can block installation during Phase 5.

Question 5

The 'phobia of attachment and attachment loss' in complex trauma refers to which clinical phenomenon?

Accepted Answer

Simultaneous craving for closeness and terror of it, rooted in disorganized attachment

Answer

Disorganized attachment in CPTSD creates an approach-avoidance conflict where the therapist activates both the attachment need and the threat response simultaneously.

(EMDR) Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Practice Test

(EMDR) Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Practice Test

EMDR Complex PTSD & Dissociative Disorders 4