It might sound silly, or even impossible, to have a theory of everything that might show up in our clinical work.
And yet, when we’re sitting with people who are stuck or sitting with people that are suffering, so often it comes back to one of a few fundamental feelings, and all of the emotional gradations that come from them: safety, grief, and shame.
Today, we’re digging into these emotional primary colors that are at the root of so much of what we see in our clinical practices, how they show up and shape family dynamics, and how our personal experiences shape the lens that we bring to our work and how we frame the world.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
- The patterns of behavior shaped by safety and belonging that Gillian recognized in her clients as parallels from her childhood
- Why nurturing an environment that is consistently safe and loving is a lot harder than it sounds
- How feelings of unsafety, grief, and shame show up for parents and kids
- How shame functions as a product of survival fear and also a measure of if we deserve to be seen and loved
- Why family and child counseling often needs to start with the parents and the family system
Learn more about Gillian Boudreau, PhD.:
Learn more about Rob Galligan, PhD.:
Resources:
- Extreme - More Than Words
- Hurvich, Marvin. (2003). The Place of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 51. 579-616. 10.1177/00030651030510020801.
- Winnicott, Donald W., 'Fear of Breakdown', in Lesley Caldwell, and Helen Taylor Robinson (eds), The Collected Works of D. W. Winnicott: Volume 6, 1960-1963 (New York, 2016
- Melanie Klein
- Donald Winnicott
- Ep 09 - Fear, Resistance, and Flow: Paula Tursi on Letting Parenting Happen
- Trauma and Recovery The Aftermath of Violence–From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, Judith L. Herman, MD
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD
- Wilfred Bion
What is I Hate You. What's For Dinner? ?
On I Hate You. What's For Dinner? we explore whether childhood explains everything. We'll ask our biggest questions about love and hate, rage and fear, and the awesome and mundane that all get smushed together when we're growing up.
Tune in to make better sense of childhood, parenthood, and life in general.