Transgenerational Affect Phobia: How to understand and treat symptoms passed on from generation to generation

A One Day Workshop with Kristin Osborn

In this workshop, we’ll explore how to respond therapeutically when working with a client who is struggling with symptoms related to Transgenerational Affect Phobia, when avoidance of emotion results in a pattern of anxiety and destructive behaviors passed on from generation to generation. In families suffering with transgenerational trauma, most emotions are forbidden and children frequently become the ‘identified patient’ due to their acting-out behaviors.

Clinicians are faced with the impossible task to ‘fix the problem,’ but are rarely given the opportunity to get to the ‘root of the problem’ by working with the whole family. This workshop will use video segments of psychotherapy sessions to illustrate how to identify, assess and treat a Transgenerational Affect Phobia. You’ll learn how to assess your client’s symptoms and create a hypothesis that guides treatment. You’ll develop a deeper understanding of family dynamics and learn how to resolve a Transgenerational Affect Phobia through the use of exposure and desensitization. Whether you are working with an individual or a whole family, you’ll receive tools to apply in your practice that will help your ‘identified patient’ experience less anxiety, let go of destructive defenses and access adaptive affect and associated healthy behaviors.

Kristin A. R. Osborn, MA, LMHC was trained by Dr. Leigh McCullough, PhD, founder of Affect Phobia Therapy (APT), and then trained others on her behalf. She founded the Certified APT™-Training Program in 2009 and presents internationally, offering ongoing training in Boston, London, Stockholm and Amsterdam. She is a lecturer (part-time) in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is the Director of HMS Psychotherapy Research Program and has recently launched a research study on therapist affect phobia and its impact on patient outcome. Her passion is teaching clinicians how to integrate research in their clinical training and she developed the ATOS-Therapist Scale, Accessibility Scale, and Congruent/Incongruent Scale, which are featured in her book, Paraverbal Communication in Psychotherapy: Beyond the Words, Rowman & Littlefield (2016). Kristin is President Emeritus of the International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association (IEDTA), on the advisory board of the AffectFokus Institute and Stockholms Akademi for Psychkoterapiutbildning (SAPU) and a member of the continuing education faculty at William James College and RINO-Noord Holland. She has published articles and chapters on training clinicians including, Learning how to rate video-recorded therapy sessions: A Practical Guide for Trainees & Advanced Clinicians, Psychotherapy Journal (2011); On-line Supervision in Affect Phobia Therapy, Using Technology to Enhance Counselor Supervision, American Psychological Association (2016); and Creating Change Through Focusing on Affect: Affect Phobia Therapy, Working on Emotions in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Clinical Practice, Guilford Press (2014).

Fee for Training: $150