Holding On or Letting Go?  Treatment Considerations for Complicated Grief and Differing Attachment Styles

Date:      Saturday, March 10, 2018

Time:     9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.,  Arrive 8:30 a.m.

Location:   Center for Grief Recovery, 1261 W. Loyola, Chicago, Illinois

Loss, grief and mourning are ubiquitous human experiences that pervade the work of therapists, psychiatrists, counselors, and social workers alike.  Helping bereaved clients can be challenging and confusing.  How do we determine the difference between normal and complicated grief?  In what ways can we tailor our interventions to accommodate the specific temperaments of our clients?  Dr. Paul M Martin will explore research on the topics of complicated grief and attachment theory.  He will then share his thoughts on the subtleties of diagnosing complicated grief, the importance of taking attachment style into consideration when designing treatment plans for bereaved clients, and the creative ways in which grief therapy can be strengthened by implementing treatment plans that are designed with the client in mind.  Lastly, Dr. Martin will discuss an often-misunderstood activity that research shows to be effective in traversing grief and mourning: ritual.

Upon completion of this program, you should be able to:

• List four differences between uncomplicated grief and complicated grief.
• Describe the fundamental tenets of attachment theory.
• Recognize the essential differences between attachment styles and how each manifests differently amidst experiences of grief in clinical work.
• Identify techniques that research shows to be more effective for complicated grief depending on the patient’s attachment style.

Faculty:

   Paul M. Martin, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist.  He serves as the assistant director of The Center for Grief Recovery, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization and group practice in which his own private practice is housed; The Center offers individual, group and family therapy.  Dr. Martin specializes in clinical services for those struggling with loss and grief; he also provides consultation to workplaces that have experienced loss and individual professionals working with cases pertaining to grief.  Dr. Martin is an affiliate faculty member at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where he teaches graduate-level psychology coursework that focuses on psychodynamic theory and intervention as well as the broad topic of separation, loss and mourning.  Dr. Martin is currently writing a book entitled Absence and Presence: How Rituals Help Us Mourn.

Conflict of Interest Policy Statement:   Faculty participating in this program are expected to disclose to the program audience any real or apparent conflict(s) or unlabeled use related to the content of their presentations.