Christine Forner

Associated Counselling, Canada

Presentation Title:

The missing ingredient: How misogyny and the patriarchy sabotage research and clinical practice

Abstract

It has been established that humans cannot fully develop if they are not helped. The notion of helping each other is in stark contrast to the notion of evolutionary competition and survival of the fittest. How to reconcile these two very opposing perspectives is one of the greatest challenges we face as individuals and as a global species. To change things, an alternative to the current view of competition must be more appealing than normalized violence. An understanding of how abnormal violence and neglect really are for our species must be pointed out. It is vital that the biases that have been forced upon us, that come from a patriarchal world, be challenged. But instead of examining patriarchy and misogyny from a political perspective, it is important to see these powerful, intergenerational, perpetual traumatic experiences, for what they are. Neurobiological, autonomic, unconsciously driven reactions to frightening environments and impoverished conditions. Structures that are held together by human emergency cascade defenses that are, because of the nature of human emergency response, ridged and unrelenting, especially in the absence of safe and secure environments. There is a lot to learn about the missing ingredient that is part of the homo sapien species, which is designed to prevent us from perpetually living in emergency responses.

But also, because in a misogynistic/patriarchal world there really is no other alternative way to exist or another way to handle times of trouble, but the way of violence or neglect. Care is the missing ingredient in times of fear. But it is not how patriarchy or misogyny describes care, it is care that addresses our innate neurobiology. This session discusses why care is so hard to find and hold onto in a world that doesn’t even know that true, species appropriate care, is more powerful than violence.

Biography

Christine Forner, B.A., B.S.W., M.S.W., R.S.W., has over thirty-five years of experience working with individuals who have been inflicted with traumatic stress because of coercive control, domestic violence, sexual violence, and neglect with specialties in traumatic dissociation, and developmental trauma. Obtaining degrees in both Woman’s Studies, and Social Work Christine is also trained in EMDR, Havening and certified in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. She teaches locally and at an international level on dissociation, and complex trauma. She is the foremost expert on the relationship between dissociation and mindfulness and how these two areas of human functioning inform us of the role that misogyny and the patriarchy play in the origination and perpetuation of complex trauma, dissociation, and the many layers of psychopathy. She is also a co-founder of concepts of Securefulness, Primal Isolation Anguish and Inside the Fire Circle. She was the President of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation in 2019. Her other passion is doing half and full distance triathlons. She is the author of Dissociation, Mindfulness and Creative Meditations: Trauma informed practices to facilitate growth (Routledge, 2017).

3rd International Conference on Neuroscience and Mental Health

Christine Forner

Presentation Title:

The missing ingredient: How misogyny and the patriarchy sabotage research and clinical practice

Abstract

Biography

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