The Body Betrayed: Shame and Identity Disruption After Illness

This webinar satisfies requirements for live interactive CE credits for all professions.

DESCRIPTION: While trauma is often associated with catastrophic external events, many clients experience profound psychological distress in the aftermath of illness or medical intervention—distress that often goes unrecognized in clinical settings. These clients may not meet criteria for PTSD but instead present with subtler forms of disconnection: from their bodies, their relationships, and their own sense of identity.

This two-hour webinar explores the psychological impact of illness through the lens of shame, somatic disconnection, and identity disruption. We’ll examine how these dynamics often appear in clinical practice—embedded within presentations of complex trauma, anxiety, depression, or relational struggle—and how to identify when unspoken medical trauma may be at play.

Drawing from somatic psychology, relational neuroscience, and attachment theory, this training offers practical tools to help clinicians recognize illness-related distress, track it in session, and support clients in rebuilding safety, self-trust, and embodied agency.

Designed for clinicians working with trauma, chronic illness, grief, or identity loss, this training reframes illness not as a purely medical event but as a psychological and relational disconnection—and a potential site of therapeutic healing.

Target audience: This course is appropriate for all mental health professionals

Content level: Introductory