media interview Qs

Susan Anderson is an expert on how to overcome abandonment and its aftermath of self sabotaging patterns. She is bestselling author of Journey from Abandonment to Healing, and has additional books, such as Taming Your Outer Child; The Abandonment Recovery Workbook; and Black Swan: 12 Lessons of Abandonment Recovery. She reaches out through her websites and workshops to share her methods of abandonment recovery with victims of trauma of abandonment, heartbreak, and loss around the world. Her groundbreaking program is the product of over thirty years of research and clinical practice.

 

interview Qs related to abandonment: talking points

  • What does abandonment encompass?

  • How does abandonment grief compare to grieving a death?

  • What are the Five Stages of Abandonment grief?

  • What can happen if you get “stuck” in one of the stages?

  • What is Outer Child?

  • What are some of the biological reasons it takes so long to get over a loss?

  • What can we do to recover from such a painful wound?

more talking points

  • How do we use insecurity to sabotage our relationships? 

  • What makes someone an “abandoholic?”

  • What do you mean when you say that some people are “love-challenged?”

  • How does unresolved abandonment cause us to implant an “invisible drain of self-esteem?”

  • Why do some people seek “emotional candy” instead of a real relationship?

  • How does our primal fear of abandonment interfere in our love-life and goals?

  • What are the steps to emotional and spiritual healing?

  • How can people get help?


interview Qs related to “Outer Child” — talking points

  • What is Outer Child?  How does it relate to "self-sabotage"?

  • How is Outer Child different from Inner Child?   

  •  How do our "abandonment issues" cause us to develop self-defeating patterns? 

  • What impact does Outer Child have on relationships?  

  • What makes someone “abandoholic" – attracted to the unavailable? 

  • How does "primal fear of abandonment" cause us to sabotage our relationships?

  • Why are many Outer Children "love-challenged"?

  • What are other common Outer Child patterns? i.e. Procrastination, Overeating, etc. 

  • Why are Outer Child patterns so hard to break?  (What are some neuro-biological reasons?) 

  • How does the Abandonment Recovery (Akēru) program help us overcome our most deeply entrenched Outer Child patterns?

  • Explain how the Akēru exercise program is "physical therapy for the brain"

  • Where can people get help?


interview Qs for professional audiences: talking points

  • Explain in what way the tools of traditional psychotherapy (i.e. “catharsis” and “emotional insight” ) are ineffective in overcoming primal abandonment and its aftermath of self-sabotage.

  • How can we use the three-part framework of Outer Child, Inner Child, and Adult Self in our clinical work to promote personal change.

  • How does unresolved abandonment give rise to patterns of self-sabotage (Outer Child)

  • How does Outer Child fit with other theories of personality, i.e. Id, Ego, Superego? Parent, Child, Adult?

  • How does Outer Child relate to Freud's "id"? How does it differ?

  • What new scientific information informs new techniques for overcoming Outer Child patterns?

  • How does C-PTSD relate to PTSD of Abandonment ?

  • What differentiates Borderline from PTSD of Abandonment? 

  • Why do Outer Children sometimes act "Borderline"? How to overcome?

  • Explain what the amygdala (ditto with hippocampus, basal ganglia, dopamine) has to do with Outer Child.

  • How does visualization help create change? Does it work by placebo? Do you have to “believe?” What makes one's imagination so powerful?

  • Why don't the tools of traditional psychotherapy (i.e. "catharsis" and "emotional insight") succeed in overcoming primal abandonment wounds and their aftermath of self-sabotage?

  • How can we use the three-part framework of Outer Child, Inner Child, and Ault Self to in our clinical work to promote personal change?