Course Description

It is well-established that parts work with more complex clients is frequently not only helpful but also necessary. Perpetrator parts, which are hypothesized to develop through exposure to inescapable harm by a malignant caregiver or other figure, serve a protective function. However, they can be quite elusive, and their paradoxical means of protection may complicate stabilization and memory processing. Work with perpetrator parts in EMDR therapy usually employs cognitive-suggestive interventions with or without BL-DAS. However, these approaches may fail to facilitate full, lasting, adaptive resolution of the at-times profound, and at times harmful influence of perpetrator parts. This presentation will discuss the development, nature, and impact of a specific type of perpetrator part, review historical approaches to working with them, and discuss in depth a novel, yet highly-effective, integrative approach developed by the presenter that can permanently unbind perpetrator states from the destructive energy they are forced to hold.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe two reasons that mapping a client’s self-system early in treatment is of value.
2. Participants will be able to enumerate the distinct steps/phases of the Introject Decathexis protocol.
3. Participants will be able to identify at least two precautions for employing the Introject Decathexis protocol.

Presenter(s)

D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW

D. Michael Coy, MA, LICSW, (he/they) is a 2006 graduate of The School of Social Service Administration at The University of Chicago. He maintains a private practice in Bremerton, Washington, and is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant and Trainer. Michael has presented widely on integrative therapeutic approaches to treat dissociation, published on dissociation-related topics, and co-authored the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation Interpretive Manual and MID Analysis. Michael is currently President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, was named an ISSTD Fellow in 2019, and has been honored with a number of awards from the Society.