In recent years, there has been a growing interest in childhood trauma as an important vulnerability factor for a variety of disorders, including psychotic disorders. In 2015, the first International Trauma, Dissociation and Psychosis conference took place in Kristiansand, Norway. Following the success of this important event, a second conference was arranged in 2017. With these conferences, we brought together clinical and research traditions, which have been quite separated for many years. By doing this, we wanted to shed light on the complex psychopathology and treatment of dissociative and psychotic disorders, as well as the symptoms and conditions crossing the diagnostic borders between these disorders.
For the third conference in Kristiansand in May 22-24th 2019, we want to proceed in the footsteps of the former conferences, and further explore questions regarding the understanding of these disorders. One of the topics we want to address is the understanding and treatment of specific symptoms like voice hearing from a psychosis versus a dissociation perspective. We have invited international and Norwegian experts from the psychosis and dissociation fields to discuss these important themes, and we hope to achieve a better understanding of “what works for whom – and why?”.
During the first two days of the conference, international and well-known speakers as Suzette Boon, Mads Gram Henriksen, Pamela Fuller, Dolores Mosquera, Filippo Varese, Andrew Moskowitz, Rai Waddingham, Bethany Brand and Douglas Turkington will present the latest knowledge within their professional fields.
The last day of the conference will be held in Norwegian, with presentations from the national experts Frank Larøi, Ingunn Holbæk, Kjersti Karlsen and Dag Nordanger.