Table Of Contentp.i
Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations
Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations explores the potential of mindfulness and explains why
this level of developmental human achievement is so precarious within traumatic stress, especially traumatic
dissociation. Chapters discuss the connection and disconnection between mindfulness and dissociative
disorders and highlight the importance of gently creating a mindfulness practice for traumatized individuals.
Readers will learn how to exercise the part of the brain that is responsible for mindfulness and how to regulate
the part that is responsible for dissociation, and they’ll come away from the book with tips that will help even
the most dissociative client reap the benefits of mindfulness practices.
Christine C. Forner, MSW, RSW, has more than 17 years of clinical experience working with individuals
with trauma, PTSD, traumatic dissociation, and developmental trauma. Christine works in private practice at
Associated Counselling in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She has presented locally and internationally on issues of
traumatic dissociation and mindfulness and dissociation and is the current treasurer for the International
Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.
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“Christine Forner has crafted a book that is highly practical, theoretically grounded, and innovative
despite its theoretical and technical sophistication. Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations
integrates many aspects of mindfulness, neurobiology, dissociation theory, and meditation practices in
simple language, using apt metaphors and illustrative examples. Clinicians, researchers, and educators
will all find treasures in this book.”
Martin J. Dorahy, PhD, professor of clinical psychology, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
“In this book, Forner depicts beautifully the importance of mindfulness in the recovery of the
traumatized self and its relationships with others. This text will be an important resource for clinicians
and trauma survivors alike.”
Ruth A. Lanius, MD, PhD, Harris-Woodman Chair, professor of psychiatry, Western University of
Canada
“Written by an experienced and gifted clinician who has dedicated her professional life to treating those
with dissociative disorders, this ambitious volume skillfully clarifies the complex relationship between
mindfulness and dissociation. Full of fascinating anecdotes, illustrations, allegories, and therapeutic
exercises, Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations brings together brain, body, and treatment
in a way that is accessible and rewarding to the reader—a brilliant contribution to the field of
traumatology and a must read for trauma therapists and their clients.”
Pat Ogden, PhD, founder, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute
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Dissociation, Mindfulness, and
Creative Meditations
Trauma-Informed Practices to
Facilitate Growth
CHRISTINE C. FORNER
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First published 2017
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Christine C. Forner
The right of Christine C. Forner to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Forner, Christine C., author.
Title: Dissociation, mindfulness and creative meditations : trauma-informed practices that facilitate growth / by Christine C. Forner, BA, BSW,
MSW, RSW.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016031283| ISBN 9781138838307 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138838314 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315734439
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Meditation—Therapeutic use. | Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. | Mindfulness (Psychology)
Classification: LCC RC489.M43 F67 2017 | DDC 616.89/1425—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031283
ISBN: 978-1-138-83830-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-83831-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-73443-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Minion
by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK
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To Jon, Zack and Jill
You are my greatest gifts
My love for you is beyond measure
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Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
1 Mindfulness
2 The Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Mindfulness
3 Conceptual Understanding of Dissociation and the Dissociative Disorders
4 Foundational Understanding of Dissociation
5 Childhood Trauma Constructed and Deconstructed: How Mindfulness Is Prevented from Developing
6 An Academic Perspective of Dissociation
7 Trauma, Dissociation, and Mindfulness: Trauma-Informed Practices
8 Meditation and Psychotherapeutic Meditation
9 Dissociation, Mindfulness, and Creative Meditations: Trauma-Informed Practices that Facilitate Growth
10 Medial Prefrontal Cortex Processing and Creative Meditations
Index
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Figures
4.1 Newton’s Cradle
4.2 Ames Room
5.1 Brain Structure
9.1 Window of Tolerance
9.2 Window of Tolerance
10.1 Procerus Muscle
10.2 Sinus Cavity
10.3 Simple Cat
10.4 Complex Image
10.5 Complex Whimsical Image
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Preface
The state of mindfulness is a very interesting state. The understanding we have about mindfulness is still
evolving, yet it is something that we have been attempting to utilize for thousands of years. Mindfulness is
both a measurable state and an abstract experience. The education and understanding of what mindfulness is
and how to achieve mindfulness is not as simple as following instructions, but it does come from following
simple instructions. Mindfulness can be very hard and very easy to achieve. Mindfulness is both a felt
experience and theory of practice. Mindfulness is a tangible experience and an intangible feeling as well as an
intangible experience with tangible feelings. It is both abstract and concrete, implicit and explicit, objective
and subjective.
The difficulty in understanding what mindfulness really is in part exists because we are trying to understand
the human condition and the human species, and these can be two distinct things. When we embark on
understanding, teaching and explaining mindfulness, we are trying to capture a human anatomical function
and an abstract concept. Understanding mindfulness is no easy feat; we are both complex and simple
creatures. Mindfulness is not just a theoretical notion; it is also philosophical debate and a real felt embodied
experience.
Dissociation is very similar and the state of dissociation is also very interesting. As with mindfulness, the
knowledge we have about dissociation is still evolving. It is something we have been experiencing for as long
as we have been human. It is both a measurable state and an abstract experience. The cause and treatment are
fairly straightforward, yet incredibly complex to fathom and practically apply. It is a simple reaction that also
becomes an incredibly complex disorder. The cause of dissociation is fairly straightforward to understand, yet
can be very confusing to comprehend. It is a disjointed felt experience that has to be understood within a
theory of practice. Like mindfulness, it is both a tangible experience and an intangible feeling. Again, like
mindfulness, dissociation is also an intangible experience that comes with tangible feelings. As with
mindfulness, dissociation is both abstract and concrete, implicit and explicit, objective and subjective.
p.x
The difficulty in understanding what dissociation really is also exists in part because we are really just now
learning more about the human species, yet we know so little about the human condition. When we embark
on understanding, teaching and explaining dissociation we are often faced with trying to conceptualize
unfathomable experiences, brutal pain and suffering into understanding.
The information presented in this book is by no means absolute. What is being offered within these pages is
both concrete and abstract, tangible and intangible, implicit and explicit, fairly well-established and yet not
fully formed. It is an attempt at describing and understanding a feeling, an experience and a theory. Feelings
and experiences of mindfulness and dissociation are subjective and the information we are obtaining through
new advances in science and research about dissociation and mindfulness is fairly objective. It is my intention
to add a piece of information; to add to the current dialogue some new theories and thoughts. The end goal is
to assist others to intuit more about mindfulness and dissociation in order to enrich others and assist within
clinical practice. The main goal is to help those that are suffering; to offer some resolution for those
individuals who have survived unimaginable hurt and pain.
The act of mindfulness can be a difficult thing to learn and experience when you have had a lot of traumatic
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injury; it is a thing that is best taught by those who have practical experience. By sharing my clinical
knowledge of both the state of dissociation and the state of mindfulness, I hope that the reader can
conceptualize what is happening to those who have been through a lot of trauma. I think, in essence, we have
to become interpreters for our clients. We need to have had the felt experience of mindfulness and pay
attention in order to understand the felt experience of dissociation within each individual client. As efficient
clinicians, we need to understand the tangible “language” of dissociation and the tangible “language” of
mindfulness and teach our clients to slowly replace the experience of dissociation with the experience of
mindfulness.
Dissociation is grossly underdiscussed in trauma literature; it really needs more exposure and publicity. The
words, experiences and valid reality of individuals who have dissociative disorders need to become part of the
common mental health and therapeutic discourse. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD
(CPTSD) are considered, studied and spoken about more often, and the dissociative disorders (DD) need to
have the same respect and validity. Many therapists are familiar with the flight and fight responses, but know
so little of freeze, tonic immobility and complete submission. Dissociation is heavily influenced by the inactive
survival defences of freeze, tonic immobility and complete submission. Many professionals lump all complex
trauma into the same area or the same category. When they do this, they are missing a huge piece of the puzzle
and in turn missing a huge part of assisting clients’ healing process.
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What happens within those with DD is so vital to understand in practical and clinical settings, because these
are the issues and responses that can make therapy a hit or a miss. Understanding DD can help you become a
very effective therapist. There is current research that shows that dissociative disorders are specific things unto
themselves, but are also involved in other mental health issues. Dissociation is as distinctive an issue as
depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder and it requires its own specific acknowledgment and
treatment. Dissociation can play a part in these other disorders or these other disorders can play a part in
dissociation. The distinction is important to understand.
Throughout this book it is valuable to comprehend that we grow and function from the bottom to the top
and from the inside out. Our deepest, lowest brain structures heavily influence everything else; the brain stem
is our lowest common denominator. These lower systems are intimately connected to our limbic and higher
cortical processing brain organization. Everything fans out from the bottom to the top and from the inside
out, from the lower structures to the higher structures. The brain stem has a direct ripple effect on everything
else. From first to last breath, it is our inner neurobiology that is leading the way. Our mind, our imagination,
our personality, our identity and our higher mental processing are all influenced by the lower brain structures.
If there is a problem in the foundational base of a building, the whole structure will be vulnerable because of
the base issue. DD is similar. If there is something serious happening in the lower brain structures because the
lower brain stem is experiencing terror, fear, abandonment, shame, insecurity, pain, rage, etc. and there is no
solution presented to that lower brain structure, the experience will continue.
I see the trauma disorders as literal and figurative perpetual unanswered physical, emotional, mental and
imaginative requests for help, safety and assistance. Or a perpetual incomplete sentence about the thing that is
creating the trauma response. I conceptualize trauma as a brain stem and limbic system reacting to and
requesting care in a variety of ways. If the requisition is met and answered and the sentence gets to be clearly
communicated, trauma reactions stop. If the communication goes unanswered, the call continues, the
sentence remains incomplete or the request does not stop; the human will just learn to live with the trauma-
inducing event and the constant request and/or incomplete sentence for the rest of their life.
p.xii
Dissociation is about growing, living and developing with constant unanswered neurobiological requests. It
is about how we manage the unanswered requests about our overwhelming fear, terror, shame, rage and
abandonment. Dissociation is, in essence, living with a series of many incomplete sentences. Dissociation is a
necessary reaction to a situation that has no answer, a way to live with things that are not seen or are
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