Susan Anderson (psychotherapist)
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Susan Anderson | |
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| Born | 2 July 1946 Pensacola, Florida |
| Education | MSW |
| Alma mater | Stony Brook University |
| Genre | Self-help books |
| Subject | Relationships |
Susan Anderson, DCSW is a private practice psychotherapist in New York and an American author of self-help books on the emotional trauma of being spurned in a romantic relationship.
Education and career
Susan Anderson earned two masters degrees at Stony Brook University; a Masters of Liberal Studies form in 1974 and a Masters of Social Work in 1983. Anderson qualified for a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW) from the National Association of Social Workers in 1993. 1n 1997, she earned an Addictions Specialist Certificate and was Certified as a Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC).[1]
Anderson published 4 books on the topic of abandonment trauma and recovery between 1999 and 2011, including Black Swan; The Journey from Abandonment to Healing; The Journey from Heartbreak to Connection (workbook); and Taming Your Outer Child.
Anderson was interviewed on the The Early Show (CBS) on February 14, 2007 [2] She was also interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) Inner Visions “Overcoming Self Sabotage and Healing Abandonment” June 23, 2015.[3]
Ideas
Anderson developed her abandonment recovery ideas after her husband of eighteen years left her for another woman. She said Ironically abandonment had been my special focus as a psychotherapist at the time.[4]
In her books, Anderson contends that the grief of being spurned in a romantic relationship can create a trauma powerful enough to implant an emotional drain deep within the self that if left unresolved, leeches self esteem and creates self sabotage.[5] She refers to this as abandonment trauma.
Anderson uses / adapts the five phases of grief in the Kübler-Ross model to abandonment.[6] Her framework describing abandonment recovery breaks it down into five phases: Shattering, Withdrawal, Internalizing, Rage and Lifting (SWIRL).[7] The acronym is designed to depict the cyclonic nature of the grief.
Controversy
While Kübler-Ross, Anderson, and others have attempted to define discrete stages of grief, such as an initial period of numbness leading to depression and finally to reorganization and recovery, most modern grief specialists recognize the variations and fluidity of grief experiences, that differ considerably in intensity and length among cultural groups and from person to person. No grief stage theory has been able to account for how people cope with loss, why they experience varying degrees and types of distress at different times, and how or when they adjust to a life without their loved one over time.[8]