Understanding and Navigating Toxic Relationships

If you would like to purchase tickets to the conversation, "On the New Normal of Narcissism" with Dr. Ramani Durvasula on Friday, October 2nd, click here.

Narcissism is a personality style characterized by conflict, antagonism, dysregulation, and above all, pathological insecurity. This toxic pattern results in significant interpersonal challenges, including family of origin dysfunction, significant difficulties in intimate relationships, and antagonism in the workplace.   

Relationships with narcissists and toxic people can result in significant distress and can harm your overall health, cutting across families, close relationships, friendships, and workplaces. There are risk factors many of us hold that render us more vulnerable to entering and staying in toxic relationships. The fallout of these relationships—something termed “narcissistic abuse”—is still a pattern being understood within the field of mental health. The challenge is that not everyone can, or wants, to walk away from their toxic relationships—and whether a person decides to remain or steps away, there are important strategies to understand. Healing from these relationships is a complex mix of grief work and self-exploration. 

Join psychologist and narcissism expert Dr. Ramani Durvasula for an illuminating and supportive workshop on understanding narcissism and toxic relationships. This interactive workshop combines teaching, self-study, exploration of cases, and strategies on how to manage the toxic, high-conflict, difficult, dysregulated, narcissistic, and antagonistic personalities in our midst. Understanding the subtypes and continuum of narcissism can help you manage the distress raised by these toxic relationships and can result in new strategies for approaching these relationships in a way that preserves your mental health. 
 
This workshop supports all individuals seeking guidance, support, and healing in relationship to toxic individuals as well as professionals working directly with clients. 
 
Please note that this workshop will be hosted live online. Instructions on how to join will be included in your event confirmation email. If you need additional assistance finding or joining the event, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu.

 
Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a licensed clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, CA and Professor of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles, where she was named Outstanding Professor in 2012, she was also the national recipient of the American Association of University Women Emerging Scholar Award. Dr. Durvasula takes on our modern scourges of entitlement and incivility in “Don’t You Know Who I Am”: How to Stay Sane in the Era of Narcissism, Entitlement and Incivility. She is the author of the modern relationship survival manual Should I Stay or Should I Go:  Surviving a Relationship With a Narcissist, and of You Are WHY You Eat: Change Your Food Attitude, Change Your Life.  The focus of Dr. Durvasula’s clinical, academic and consultative work is the etiology and impact of narcissism and high conflict, entitled, antagonistic personality styles on human relationships, mental health, and societal expectations.  She has spoken on these issues to clinicians, educators and researchers around the world. Her work has been featured at SxSW, TEDx, and on a wide range of media platforms including Red Table Talk, the Today Show, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery, Bravo, and she is a featured expert on the digital media mental health platform MedCircle.  Dr. Durvasula’s research on personality disorders has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and she is a Consulting Editor of the scientific journal Behavioral Medicine. Dr. Durvasula has also been a participant in the governance of the American Psychological Association, and most recently as the Chair of the STAY-MHSAS Training Advisory Committee of the Minority Fellowship Program. Dr. Durvasula is an honest, authentic, and brutally honest voice on the struggles raised by narcissism and high conflict, antagonistic personality styles in the US and globally. 

CIIS students, staff, and faculty receive discounts on all events. CIIS Public Programs Members receive a 20% discount on all events. Contact us for more information at publicprograms@ciis.edu. Please note that we will check your ID for proof of eligibility on arrival at event.