Rehab Kids

Healing the Hidden

Wounds of Trauma and
Disconnection
Featuring Millennial Therapist
Sara Kuburic

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 Healing the Hidden
Wounds of Trauma and
Disconnection
Featuring Millennial Therapist
Sara Kuburic

Rehab Kids

ZNM096328
11/23
Copyright © 2023

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18pp

11/23

Rehab Kids
 MATERIALS PROVIDED BY

Dr. Sara Kuburic is an existential psychotherapist, consultant,

writer, and columnist for USA Today. She was born in Yugoslavia
and raised in Canada. She is passionate about helping people
seek change and live authentic, free, and meaningful lives.
Her interest in psychology stems from her personal experience
living through wars, navigating complex relationships, and
continually learning what it means to be human.

For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography in activity advertising.

Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the
authorized practice of certain professionals. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing
the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in
accordance with and in compliance with your profession’s standards.
 As required by several accrediting boards, speaker and
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(including financial relationships with ineligible
organizations) were disclosed prior to the start of this
activity. To view disclosure information, please see
activity advertising.

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document may take the user outside of the educational activity.
 Healing the Hidden
Wounds of Trauma and
Disconnection
Dr. Sara Kuburic (the millennial therapist)

Agenda
PART I: PART 4:
Existentialism and its unique contribution A step by step guide to treating self-loss
to psychotherapy in clients

PART 2: PART 5:
Self-loss– A hidden source of suffering Risks and Limitations

PART 3: PART 6:
Making sense of the Self Discussion; Q+A

1
 Existential
Psychotherapy

Jean-Paul Sartre
(1905-1980)
“Man is condemned to be free; because
once thrown into the world, he is
responsible for everything he does.”

2
 Albert Camus
(1913-1960)
“But in the end one needs more
courage to live than to kill himself.”

Freedom

What is Death
existential
therapy?
Meaninglessness

3
 “Now, in logotherapy the
patient may remain sitting
erect, but he must hear things
which sometimes are very
disagreeable to hear.”
– Viktro Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning

Existential therapists strive to

understand the human condition.
They do not accept a fixed view of
human nature but rather helps
each client define his/her personal
existence.

4
 Dr. Sara Kuburic

“Existence, The word comes from the Latin

word existere, literally meaning to stand
out, or to emerge. EXISTENCE is not a static
process but entails the process of coming
into being or becoming. It is concerned with
the science and process of being
(ontology). Existential therapists assist
clients to stand out or to affirm their
existences, despite and within the
constraints involved in existence.”

Existential Therapies: Theoretical basis, Process,

Application and Empirical Evidences (2017).

“Everything can be taken from a man but one

“The spirit of a man is constructed out of his
thing: the last of the human freedoms—to
choices.”
choose one’s attitude in any given set of
―Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept
circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
―Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

10

5
 What Makes
it Unique?

11

“Existential Analysis can be defined as a

phenomenological and person-oriented
psychotherapy, with the aim of leading the person to
(mentally and emotionally) free experiences, to
facilitate authentic decisions and to bring about a
truly responsible way of dealing with life and the
world.
Existential
The psychotherapeutic process takes place via
Analysis phenomenological analysis of the emotions as the
centre of experiences. Biographical work and
empathic listening by the therapist contribute to an
improvement in emotional understanding and
accessibility.”

Website: Existential Analysis Canada

12

6
 1. I am here; but can I truly be? Can I exist?
Am I privy to conditions and context that offer me safety,
support, space, and protection? Do I trust myself and the
world around me? Am I provided with basic human needs
that allow me to live? Can I accept my conditions?

2. I am alive, but do I like it?*

Does the way I live my life nurture a connection with my
values and the people around me? Do I like the fact that I
Existential am alive? Can I connect to the way I feel and to those
around me? Am I moved—touched—by life?

Analysis 3. Can I be myself?

Do I feel like I have the right to be who I am? Do I have
permission (from Self and others) and space to be and
express myself?

4. Do I have meaning in life?

What is my direction and purpose in life? Can Iidentify why
I am alive and how I want to exist while Iam?

13

Page 02

What or – more
accurately – who
are w e treating in
our sessions?

20
22

14

7
 What is the "Self"
"Many of us waste our life never knowing who we are. We
constantly speak or act on behalf of the the “Self,” yet most of
us do not know our Self intimately enough to do so.
-- It's On Me, Sara Kuburic
20
22

15

Page 07

Three key
Freedom
ingredients
Responsibilty
of the "Self"
Choice

20
22

16

8
 AUTHENTIC INAUTHENTIC

17

Dr. Sara Kuburic

the world

What is Self
loss?

18

9
 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

19

Dr. Sara Kuburic

3 MAJOR CAUSES
OF SELF-LOSS 1 Life- altering events

Modelled behaviour
2
and family rules

3 Self- betrayal

20

10
 Dr. Sara Kuburic

TRAUMA, ANXIETY,
AND DEPRESSION:
SELF-LOSS–CHICKEN
OR T H E EGG

21

Dr. Sara Kuburic

HOW SOCIETY CREATES

(AND PERPETUATES) SELF-LOSS Inner
Pole

Outer
pole

22

11
 ROLE PLAY
How do our clients
participate in their self-
loss?
1. ictim
2. agent
3. both

23

Dr. Sara Kuburic

COMMON Emotional disconnect

Difficulty self-regulating
CONSEQUENCES OF Strained self-body relationship
Unhealthy relationship patterns
SELF LOSS Lack of boundaries
Lack of meaning
Lack of inner consent
Burnout
Anxious thoughts
Low mood

24

12
 Therapy: The relationship
between two Selves
The "Self" of the therapist

The "Self" of the client

20
22

25

3 prerequisites
of the "Self"

Attention Appreciation Justice

26

13
 What h a p p en s to the
Self during mental
health struggles?
1. Existential Crisis
2. Distress/adjustment
3. Limited autonomy/freedom
4. Disowning (potential self-loss)

20
22

27

How to spot
self-loss
narratives
patterns
reactions

28

14
 Necessary skill set
(for clients)
self-awareness
honesty
safety

29

MENTAL DECLUTTERING
Three
EMOTIONAL AWARNESS
Treatment
Strategies BODY CONNECTION

30

15
 BOUNDARY BOUNDARY
SETTING FOR SETTING FOR
PROTECTION CONNECTION

31

Treat co-occuring self-loss and

mental health conditions
Is it a symptom or the cause?

32

16
 Case Study
Trauma, anxiety and self-loss
Identifying info: 28 y.o. Latino cis-male. American, first-
gen, first to go to college. Highly successful, lawyer at a
prestigious law firm in a large US city.
Presenting concern: Anxiety, interfering with work-
persistent worry about messing up, angering his boss,
pressure to out-perform other junior associates. Works
long hours, never gets enough sleep, not seeing friends,
distant from gf even though they live together.
Everything but work feels like an interference
Trauma hx: Strict household, punishments for small
infractions were severe and often physical

33

Possible Risks and

Challenges

Mental Health Decline Imposition On Clients Triggers

The work around identity is difficult and #1 challenge for therapists is not to If the therapist struggles with their own
often involves the process of impose their own values, beliefs, and sense of authenticity it might be
perception of who the client “should” difficult to guide others, or they may
deconstruction as well as reconstruction.
be. It’s our job to highlight for them the even get triggered by the process.
Depending on the client, there is a risk of freedom, responsibility, and choices
anxiety, depression, or potential they have and allow them to take
retraumatization. ownership.

34

17
 LIMITATIONS IN THE STUDY OF SELF-LOSS

Self-loss is a novel concept. It is rarely studied

within the field of psychology. More qualitative
studies need to be conducted to further
understand the phenomena and it’s impact on
mental health, as well as the treatment
method/process.
35

Q& A

36

18
NOTES
NOTES