As a certified Neonatal Therapist, Sue Ludwig has dedicated her life to not only the physical development but the emotional development of her patients. Ludwig brings intentionality to each moment by strategically working to regulate patients’ nervous systems during their time in the NICU. Her process focuses on the interconnection of the mind and body and aims to support the child’s development in vulnerable situations. She explains the importance of proper technique to avoid disrupting the nervous system, and the long-term effects on neurodevelopment. Through her personal and professional journeys, Sue Ludwig has learned the value of being present in small moments to build deeper connections and experience lasting results.
Attachment
Resources
Addiction, Attachment & the Felt Sense Polyvagal Model with Jan Winhall (193)
Jan Winhall provides new perspectives on the ways in which culture and trauma affect our navigation within the world. Using the bottom-up approach, she explains how addictions are regulation strategies and provides tools to connect deeper to our nervous systems, and ourselves. Follow along as Sue Marriott and Jan explore her “felt sense” model where she blends neuroception and interoception through a polyvagal lens.
Relationship-based Parenting: An Integration of Neurobiology, Attachment, Regulation & Discipline (192)
Learn powerful strategies for parenting even during the most difficult moments. Ann Kelley, Kat Scherer and Elizabeth Sylvester discuss ways of integrating attachment and neurobiology into disciplinary styles that work and build balance in our relationships.
Secure Relating, Not the Same as Secure Attachment with Ann & Sue (190)
You don’t have to be totally healed from years of therapy under your belt or a history of secure attachment to develop skills for increased intimacy and secure relating. This is something that anybody, no matter their history, can begin to learn. Channeling your inner awareness to recognize a heightened state of arousal or using visualizations to help stay in a regulated place helps tap into your right brain to connect with yourself and your humanity. Ann and Sue navigate their personal examples, self-regulating tips, breaking out of their defensive “competitive head”, and many more useful strategies to explore the ways we can move in the direction of secure connections.
Healing Body-Focused Repetitive Behavioral Disorders with Stacy Nakell (189)
Hair-pulling, skin picking, and cheek, lip, & cuticle biting are self-soothing strategies that depending on the degree can become body-focused repetitive behavioral disorders. Learn about a new attachment-informed psychodynamic model for treating these painful, shame-associated behaviors in our conversation today with Sue Marriott and Stacy Nakell.
Mistaken Assumptions to Re-Examine for Relational Connection w Ann and Sue (188)
Assumptions block our view of seeing the whole perspective and equip us with a bias that can make our relationships difficult to navigate. Not asking people personal questions or receiving feedback might be underlined unexamined bias. Whether your “moral compass” may get in the way, your assumptions form from cultural influence, or you even feel avoidant of those tougher conversations and just assume the other person is on the same page – this episode is for you. This is a follow up to the defense series as Ann and Sue help us continue to get real and question what we think we just know.
Connecting with Your Subconscious to Understand Your Defenses Session 5 of 5 – (187)
Whether it’s projection, appearing to be a “know it all”, power dynamics, ceding, or even being forgetful – we express our subconscious and conscious defenses in multiple ways. Follow along to connect with your own defenses and learn how to healthily disarm your patterns for emotional regulation.
Harnessing Healthy Aggression with Jeanne Bunker, Session 4 of 5 (186)
Aggression is not a feeling, it can be positive or negative goal-directed life energy. Learn to use this energy to propel us forward in conversation with guest expert Jeanne Bunker and co-host, Sue Marriott. What is healthy aggression? It can be a resource to help us navigate our personal goals, increase intimacy within our relationships, and to act as a catalyst for change when paired with desire. Follow along as Jeanne Bunker and Sue Marriott break down the negative connotations and provide perspective to harness this resource and help reclaim healthy aggression. Shownotes at www.therapistuncensored.com/186. Join our Neuronerd community at www.therapistuncensored.com/join.
The Science of Trust and Attachment with Dr. Steve Finn (180)
The science of trust is key. Deciding who to trust in today’s world is especially hard – fake news, political polarization and societal strife amplifies our already on guard nervous system. When our trust has been broken, whether early in childhood or in our adult relationships, learning who to trust can prove even more challenging. In today’s episode, Dr. Steve Finn and Dr. Ann Kelley discuss the science behind epistemic trust and why many of us may have broken trust meters. They discuss how trust issues can create a mess in our relationship, whether we are the constant skeptic who resists taking in new information or we tend to trust blindly, without testing or holding healthy doubts. Together they provide deep and compassionate insights into these struggles and how they relate to internal working models. A fan favorite, Dr. Finn returns to bring his years of expertise to our listeners about ways to build curiosity and tools of mentalization, including our ability to handle healthy skepticism. Shownotest at www.therapistuncensored.com/180
Attachment in Polyamory & Consensual Non-Monogamous Relationships with Jessica Fern (176)
Co-host Sue Marriott and psychotherapist and relationship expert, Jessica Fern, sit down for a deep dive into the science behind attachment in consensually non monogamous relationships. Tune in to help update your model of what makes a healthy, secure-functioning relationship. More here www.therapistuncensored.com/episodes
The Neurobiology of Threat Impacts Your Relationships, Ann and Sue Update You on the Latest (173)
Ann and Sue blend their own personal experiences and knowledge of neuroscience to help improve your relationships and integrate healing change within the body. Follow along as they apply all we know about the fear system and the unconscious defense, and cover the misconceptions about how the amygdala is often perceived as the “fear center” of the body.
Attachment-Focused EMDR – Tools & Techniques to Heal Trauma with Dr. Laurel Parnell (170)
A theory around trauma is that when it occurs it “gets locked in the nervous system” and the way in which the body stores the trauma – in the form of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations – can be left fragmented, therefore delaying true healing. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessings, also known as EMDR, is an evolving science that utilizes bilateral stimulation to help connect the left side of the brain to the right in order to form more cohesive, healing thoughts to better support the healing process. Tune in for this episode as co-host Dr. Ann Kelley and Dr. Parnell take a deep dive into the evolution and successes of EMDR.
Self-Criticism
Do you struggle with self-criticism? Us too! In fact, criticism whether from ourselves or from those around us can be a huge problem for so many of us. Here is where things get interesting. What does this struggle look like based on our attachment style, and how...
Sue and Ann Explore Self Criticism and Internal Scripts (Ep.169)
Hearing yourself criticized impacts your nervous system no matter if the voice is your own or someone else. Ann and Sue take a deep dive into self-criticism, self attack, and internal criticism of others. They look at how it relates to attachment styles and use it as a window in to unconscious scripts we carry about ourselves and the world. Find more at www.therapistuncensored.com/episodes and join our Neuronerd community at www.therapistuncensored.com/join!
Attachment Assessment Unpacked, Ann & Sue Geek Out and Debrief Previous Episode with Carol George (163)
We are still excited by the exceptional opportunity to learn directly from Dr. George and for the privilege we have in getting to sit down with so many incredible experts in the field of attachment and the relational sciences. We thought there was no better way to follow up than to bring you an in-depth session with Ann and Sue to really get into the heart of attachment assessment. Follow along as they explore what attachment really means, how research has evolved, and how it is relevant on a clinical level. Guided by excerpts from the conversation with Dr. George, they share personal stories, and their own knowledge of the topic to give you 40 minutes of insightful, candid conversation to expand your knowledge even greater. You won’t want to miss it!
TU162: Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) Assessment & Clinical Use with Dr. Carol George
This is an incredible opportunity to sit with a legend in the field of attachment research! Dr. Carol George worked directly with Mary Main, and her dissertation lead to the Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI). She and Sue Marriott discuss wide-ranging topics all with the eye on using the whole of this research in real life and in the clinical setting. Learn about the Adult Attachment Projective, the history of the research and more about this incredible woman who is a living legend.
TU161: Managing Unconscious Defense & Fear with Ann Kelley PhD and Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP
Overcome defense and fear – Catch up with hosts Ann Kelley and Sue Marriott while they discuss the difference between cognitive understanding of modern attachment and regulation and the bottom-up experience of it. We distort information coming in – either by not registering interpersonal information or by over-interpreting the importance of an exchange (up-regulating with fear). This is an unconscious process that to undo we have to have the courage and the resources to feel the feelings that cause us to defend. They walk through it with you they don’t just tell you what to do, so join us in understanding our own defensive process. Find episode notes at therapistuncensored.com/episodes.
TU 160: Disorganized Attachment, It’s Not Crazy; It’s a Solution to an Unsolvable Problem –- REPLAY
The is the third and final episode of our three-part series on attachment where Ann and Sue take a deep dive into the fourth category on what we call the basic attachment spectrum: disorganized attachment. No matter your trauma history, this category relates to everyone and can be applicable in many areas of life. Follow along to see how disorganized attachment appears and affects adolescent and adult life, and ways to help conquer this disconnection and form healthier, more secure relationships.
TU 159: Preoccupation in Relationships – Signs and Solutions to Anxious Attachment – REPLAY
This is the second of three episodes on the basics of modern attachment and the attachment-regulation spectrum. Ann Kelley and Sue Marriott break down the red side of the attachment spectrum, anxious attachment. Find more at www.therapistuncensored.com/episodes
TU158: Are You Cool, or Just Cut Off? Dismissing/Avoidant Styles of Relating in Adulthood – REPLAY
This is the first in a loosely organized 3 episode series on the basics of modern attachment. New season starts Nov 1. You may think you are calm cool and collected, but ask around. 🙂 This episode pairs with the next 2 in discussing attachment patterns in adulthood and are the core content from which we will pick up again Season 6. We keep learning a lot and updating our model so tune in and see where we go with it over time, okay?