The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defences of the Personal Spirit
... It would seem to me that the trauma played quite a part here, and I was trying, subconsciously, to protect myself. Kalsched (1996) talks about archetypal defences: "The psyche These mixed emotions of feeling isolated and left up in the air, yet safe and surrounded by people who cared, made me realise how clients who come for therapy might feel. The need to feel heard and to experience empathy. ...
... It would seem to me that the trauma played quite a part here, and I was trying, subconsciously, to protect myself. Kalsched (1996) talks about archetypal defences: "The psyche seemed to be making use of 'historical layers' of the unconscious to give form to otherwise unbearable suffering" (p. 77). ...
Is it possible to experience healing and growth when you grieve? How and where do you find meaning again? During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were looking for answers to these questions. This autoethnography explores how I experienced personal transformation through the method of Music and Imagery (MI) therapy in the midst of the pandemic and huge personal loss. This transformation also impacted my faith in Christ. Through documenting my journey using music listening, artwork, journaling, memories, and peers’ feedback, I realized just how possible it was to grow and find healing in trying times. I pieced all the information together like a jigsaw puzzle until I could see the complete picture.
... This equates to representations of the experiences of early relationships, for my patient it was rather a case of non-representation. Regarding the inner world, emotional neglect by relevant others carries the risk of a "white nothing," of a "bland (white) psychosis" (Green, 2011, p. 255) whereas in the case of sexual or physical trauma the inner world can be full of repudiating and persecutory figures (Kalsched, 1996). ...
... Her memories could no longer be experienced as belonging to her ego and to her history. For life to continue somehow, so Kalsched states, ego and self-representation become impoverished; affect, image and history are then split off from one another (Kalsched, 1996). If something is unreal then no affect, no image and no history exist, just something foreign within the person, which is shapeless and which cannot be comprehended. ...
Unrepresented mental states lead to an impaired ability to feel emotions and trust in oneself, one's history and in the world. The article explores the question of how representations of oneself and the relevant other, the mother, become possible in the course of therapy when dissociative processes previously made this impossible, and what role unconscious communication plays in the analytic realm. This question will be explored by examining the theories of André Green, Philip Bromberg, and Howard Levine.
... Im unterschied zu negativen Repräsentationen der frühen Beziehungserfahrung liegt indes bei meiner Patientin eher eine Nicht-Repräsentation vor. Mit Blick auf die innere Welt ist im Falle einer emotionalen Vernachlässigung durch relevante Andere die Gefahr eines »weißen Nichts«, einer »blanden (weißen) Psychose« (Green, 2011, S. 255) vorhanden, während im Falle von sexuellen oder körperlichen Traumata die innere Welt voll mit ausstoßenden oder verfolgenden Figuren sein kann (Kalsched, 1996). ...
... Eine Folge von Claras Symbolisierungsschwäche war, dass ihre eigenen Gefühle, Sinneseindrücke, Gedanken und Bilder voneinander getrennt, zerstückelt, eben dissoziiert blieben und ihre Erinnerungen nicht mehr als zum Ich und zu ihrer Geschichte zugehörig betrachtet werden konnten. Damit das Leben irgendwie weitergehen kann, so Kalsched, verarmen Ich und Selbstbild; Affekt, Bild und Geschichte sind dann voneinander getrennt (Kalsched, 1996). Wenn etwas unwirklich ist, existiert kein Affekt, kein Bild und keine Geschichte, nur etwas Fremdes in der eigenen Person, das formlos ist und nicht erfasst werden kann. ...
Nicht repräsentierte mentale Zustände führen zu einer Beeinträchtigung
der Fähigkeit, Gefühle und Vertrauen in sich, in seine Geschichte und in
die Welt zu empfinden. Der Artikel geht der Frage nach, wie Repräsentationen von
sich selbst und einem relevanten Anderen, der Mutter, im Laufe einer Therapie möglich
werden, wenn dissoziative Prozesse dies bisher verunmöglichten, und welche
Rolle dabei die unbewusste Kommunikation im analytischen Raum spielt. Diese Frage
wird in der Auseinandersetzung mit den Theorien von André Green, Philipp Bromberg
und Peter Levine untersucht.
... The extended family system where three generations lived, loved and fought together provided a strong and unified holding matrix for each family member. Jungian analyst Donald Kalsched (1996) clarifies this sense of "holding": The obvious disadvantage of living in an extended family system, from a Western perspective, is the lack of freedom from fairly rigid family roles. However, the pressure on parents today in a nuclear family system, without extended family support, is enormous. ...
This essay explores the concept of the family unconscious, with reference to Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields. The main focus of the essay is what could be described as "the family unconscious-in-action," which includes the family unconscious and the influence of ancestors, pathology and health, dreams and "psi events," along with anecdotal stories from my personal life and client-work. The final part of the paper explores the myth of Oedipus and the family curse, within the context of the family unconscious. Throughout the paper, reference is made to the family unconscious and the counselling process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
... Симулятивні символічні утворення також не можуть забезпечити підтримку тим, хто переживає колективну травму, і не можуть захистити майбутнє покоління від психологічної травми травмованими так само дорослими (Kalsched, 2014;Kalsched, 2017). Наступним «клієнтом» авторитарних режимів може стати піддане насильству молоде покоління. ...
Стаття базується на онлайн-доповіді на Всесвітньому конгресі Міжнародної асоціації аналітичної психології в м. Буенос-Айрес (Аргентина) у 2022 році, також версія статті була надрукована в Cahiers Jungiens De Psychanalyse, Numero 156, Automne-Hiver, 41–52. Автор, український юнгіанський аналітик, представляє нам свій погляд на психологічні наслідки війни між Росією та Україною, базуючись на власному досвіді, на аналізі аналітичних стосунків, а також на екстраполяції цього матеріалу на колективний рівень. Він зосереджується на переживанні викривленого сприйняття часу, мінливості та поляризації прив’язаностей і, нарешті, на ефектах сплутаності в «сірій зоні» травматичних станів. Як «працюють» через нас символи, як існує символічний простір? Яким чином ми переробляємо сирий, травматичний матеріал, який ми трансформуємо тривожну реальність довколишнього світу у власну оповідь світу внутрішнього? Автор також досліджує складні й бурхливі історичні стосунки між Україною та Росією, повертаючись до імперського періоду. Він вказує на неосяжність колективних катастроф із мільйонними жертвами, які сталися у 20-му столітті, з вторинною політикою амнезії, яка завадила переживанню колективних травм у більш пізній період. І, нарешті, зосереджується на розвитку національної свідомості українського народу через пошук автентичних символів як можливість поставити під сумнів використання та зловживання символами на колективному рівні, свідомо обираючи демократичну етичну систему та конституювання почуттів національної ідентичності.
... Repressed painful or distressing life experiences may leave behind psychic wounds (Jung, 1928). When these psychic wounds affect anima/animus aspects of the person, such as a woman abused by her father as child, they may impact in a powerful, uncontrolled way on a person"s life, and cause seemingly irrational and inappropriate reactions (Kalsched, 1996). Such reactions are often projections, and are not appropriate to the situation/person. ...
... Dissociation is today a powerful concept for looking at human coping mechanisms. The overriding influence of "repression" has dwindled, and no longer stands in the way of scientific investigators' taking a new look at dissociation (Braun, 1988in Kalsched, 2014. ...
span lang="EN-US">This study examines a psychological disorder called dissociative identity disorder (DID) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s show Moon Knight, which premiered on March 30, 2022, and ran for six episodes. The aim of this study is to analyze the dissociative identity disorder (DID) that is being experience by Marc Spector, the main character of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s show, Moon Knight . This study has two objectives, (1) To find out what are the causes of dissociative identity disorder on Marc Spector in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s show Moon Knight. (2) To find out clinical features of dissociative identity disorder on Marc Spector in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s show Moon Knight . (3) To find out how dissociative identity disorder affects the way Marc Spector communicates. The method used in this study were qualitative method. The data of this study were obtained from a Marvel Cinematic Universe’s show Moon Knight . The techniques for collecting data were by watching every episode of the show, taking notes, classifying the data, doing interpretation, and drawing conclusion. The result of the analysis reveals Marc Spector is able to talk different accent and different language when he shifted to his alter ego.</span
... I would propose that actual self is the relation between these two selves. In case of a weakness of this relation, in Carl Gustav Jung's terminology, the departure of the individual's "persona" (Kalsched, 1996) from one's authentic qualities ends up in a discrepancy between false and true selves (Winnicott, 1973). Şar and Öztürk (2007) underline the clinical and social importance of such departure in their theory of the "functional dissociation of the self". ...
Dissociative depression is a complex and chronic mood disorder characterized by a combination of persistent depressive symptoms and intermittent major depressive episodes. A key feature of dissociative depression is the existence of dissociative symptoms that are linked to prolonged stress experienced during childhood and infancy. Disturbances of sense of self and agency are core indicators of the disorder. Common symptoms include thoughts of guilt and worthlessness, difficulties with concentration and decision-making, changes in appetite and sleep, and suicidal ideation. Additionally, individuals may exhibit various expressive patterns such as borderline phenomena, psychoticism, trauma-related enactments, and attempts at control through somatization, compensatory narcissism, and obsessions. One challenge is that dissociative depression often does not respond well to biological treatments alone. Psychotherapeutic interventions that do not specifically address the dissociative aspect may also be ineffective. The required comprehensive approach involves working through layers of therapeutic reality to reverse the process that led to the status quo. An intensive psychodynamic practice with a renewed theoretical understanding (Dialectical Dynamic Therapy-DDT) is necessary to identify the leverage points that can bring about radical inner change. The aim is to alleviate the barriers that prevent individuals from realizing their full potential assigned in the beginning of life.
... If the reading of the report takes place at the fulfilment of the Kairos, i.e., at the "right moment", when the applicant is ready, this moment can prove to be of great importance as it gives the subject back possession of his own story, increases his self-agency, legitimizes his feeling and his suffering by formally and publicly acknowledging them. If, on the other hand, the reading of the relationship occurs when the subject is not ready when the time is not ripe, those fragile psychic defenses that allow him a precarious, shaky, partial cohesion of the self, and therefore a precarious psychic existence, will be undermined, configuring a condition of re-traumatization [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. ...
Asylum-seeking migrants represent a vulnerable segment of the population, and among them, women constitute an even more vulnerable group. Most of these women and girls have been exposed to threats, coercion, and violence of many kinds, including rape, forced prostitution, harassment, sexual slavery, forced marriage and pregnancy, female genital mutilation/excision, and/or other violations of their rights (e.g., deprivation of education, prohibition to work, etc.). The perpetrators of the violence from which they flee are often their own families, partners, and even institutional figures who should be in charge of their protection (such as police officers). In the process for the acceptance/rejection of an asylum application, the forensic and psychological certification can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful applications, as it can support the credibility of the asylum seeker through an assessment of the degree of compatibility between the story told and the diagnostic and forensic evidence. This is why constant and renewed reflection on the ethical, forensic, and methodological issues surrounding medico-legal and psychological certification is essential. This article aims to propose some reflections on these issues, starting from the experience of the inward healthcare service dedicated to Migrant Victims of Maltreatment, Torture, and Female Genital Mutilation operating since 2018 at
... Trauma is the external and internal reflection of the psychological pain that an individual cannot digest, in other words, it is the failure of the individual's holistic capacity. By using Jung's Theory of Archetypes of trauma and focusing on the client's inner world, Kalsched (1996) defined trauma as follows. When trauma touches the developing psychological structure of a child, it produces a "fragmentation of consciousness" in which different "fragments" organize themselves according to certain archetypal and typical patterns. ...
It is emphasized widely in the trauma literature that exposure to traumatic events causes significant emotional problems in children. For this reason, in the present study, the purpose was to examine the object relations of children with and without traumas with the Beier Sentence Completion Test, which is a projective test, and the Draw Family Test. The sample of the study consists of 38 children between the ages of 11-14. The data obtained in the study showed that the participants who underwent traumas had higher negative scores in the Beier Sentence Completion Test, and the participants without traumas had higher positive scores in the Beier Sentence Completion Test. In this respect, it can be argued that participants with trauma have higher objects and self-image, and aggression than children without trauma. Similarly, it was also determined that children with trauma used devaluation defense mechanisms, and those without trauma used glorification defense mechanisms. As a result, it is considered that the perceptions and experiences of children with and without traumas are different from each other, and uncovering this difference with projective tests will make an important contribution to the literature. Öz Travma, kaza, istismar, doğal afet gibi travmatik bir olaya verilen duygusal tepkinin yanı sıra bireyin fiziksel veya duygusal olarak tehdit edici bir olaya maruz kalması sonucu verdiği tepkidir. Travmatik bir olaya maruz kalmanın çocuklarda önemli duygusal sorunlara yol açtığı travma literatüründe yaygın olarak vurgulanmaktadır. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada travması olan ve olmayan çocukların nesne ilişkileri projektif bir test olan Beier Cümle Tamamlama Testi ve aile çiz testi ile incelemeyi amaçlamıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemi, 11-14 yaş arası çocuklardan oluşmaktadır. Toplam 38 öğrenciden oluşan bu örnekleme Çocuk ve Gençlerde Travma Sonrası Tepki Ölçeği ve Beier Cümle Tamamlama Testi ve Bir Aile Çiz Testi uygulandı. İnceleme sonrası elde edilen veriler, travması olan katılımcıların beier cümle tamamlama testinde anne ve babaya karşı tavırlarda negatif puanları daha yüksek(negatif cümleleri pozitif cümlelerden daha fazla) iken travması olmayan katılımcıların beier cümle tamamlama testinde pozitif puanları daha yüksek olduğu görüldü. Diğer yandan travması olan katılımcıların travması olmayan çocuklara göre nesne ve kendilik imgesi, agresyonun daha fazla olduğu söylenebilir. Benzer şekilde travması olan çocukların değersizleştirme savunma düzeneklerini kullanırken, travması olmayanların yüceltme savunma düzenekleri kullandıkları tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak, travması olan ve olmayan çocukların nesne ilişkilerine dair algı ve deneyimleri birbirinden farklı olduğu, bu farkın projektif testlerle ortaya koymak literatüre önemli bir katkı sağlayacağı düşünülmektedir.
... Many people bereaved by suicide at the rare opportunities to talk reveal that they find themselves in silence (Hanschmidt et al. 2016;Klimaitė and Geležėlytė 2015 Not naming the feelings and not talking about grief is not giving any structure to the experience (Lukas and Seiden 2007). The unnamed and unworked parts tend to be dissociated or repressed and later can become autonomous sub-personalities (Jung 1989;Kalshed 1996), finding their ways to show up in most uncomfortable timings and forms. ...
In this article, I used autoethnography to describe and analyze my experience of being bereaved by suicide and researching spirituality during suicide bereavement. The culture silenced my grief, and this is congruent with the experiences of my research participants. The religious community, in my case, did not help me and added to my spiritual and psychological pain. The silenced parts of my loss started to make sounds, such as psychological disturbances, but also as unconscious and conscious choices, which led to immersing myself in the research of spirituality during suicide bereavement. Research on the topic goes hand in hand with my search for spirituality during suicide bereavement and reviewing my loss. My story suggests that despite the negative experiences with Catholic priests, spirituality during suicide bereavement can become a vital resource to find meaning for the loss and the pain of grief and can take many different and even unexpected forms.
... One can imagine that in cases of childhood trauma, such as physical or sexual abuse, the mirror neuron system mirrors the intentions and the emotional state of the abuser as well as contributing to the emotional state of the victim. This may be seen to account for the formation of the internal persecutor (Kalsched, 1996) as well as identification with the abuser (Ferenczi, 1933;Freud, 1936Freud, /1966. Once the implicit traumatic model is formed the brain is primed to expect renewed episodes and reacts to perceived similar threats by repeating motor responses in the form of acting out and enactment. ...
Acting out and enactment are terms in widespread use colloquially and in psychoanalytic psychotherapy to describe patient and therapist behavior. Both terms are poorly defined in the literature and have varied in interpretation as theoretical frameworks have changed. The advent of relational and inter-personal therapeutic approaches has blurred both the distinction between talking and action established by Freud and the boundaries of clinical practice. A review of the history of both terms reveals their core meaning as transgressive; by one of the analytic pair or by both, respectively. Behavior violating therapeutic boundaries and the analytic attitude, including those triggered by countertransference, are important indicators of repressed trauma as Freud originally thought. His retreat from the seduction theory led to the confusion of acting out with transference and to later authors confusing enactment with countertransference. Traumatic memories are uniquely stored and difficult to recover and characterized by hypofunction in the default mode network and hyperfunction in the central executive and salience networks leading to their behavioral expression in acting out and enactment in contrast to verbal expression. Thus understood these forms of behavior can make an important contribution to the “talking cure.”
This chapter presents drama-based participatory research conducted by the author with Afro-Colombian youth. This initiative aimed to explore how the embodiment and performance of historical documents is a distinctively unique approach to healing the intergenerational trauma of enslavement. In 2019, a research group at the National University of Bogotá (Colombia) identified historical letters dated 1743–1966, written by a slave foreman working in a mine on the Colombian Pacific coast and addressed to the slave master living in a city of the interior. The letters provide details on the living conditions of enslaved people and their strategies of resistance and adaptation. The National University identified a community on the Colombian Pacific coast whose biological ancestors were the enslaved people mentioned in the letters, and invited members of this community to participate in a theatre workshop where they would embody and perform the events described in the letters. Data show that the combination of dramaturgy based on historical documents, the embodiment of ancestral stories, public performance, and reflection help communities affected by intergenerational traumas to re-signify their experience, heal their collective wounds, and imagine a different future.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a complex illness that requires a multimodal approach to treatment. While psychopharmacology is reserved for co-morbid psychiatric illnesses, individual psychotherapy remains the cornerstone of treatment with a strong therapeutic alliance necessary for successful treatment outcomes. The primary goal of treatment is to reduce distress and impairment, promote cooperation and integration between the different identities, and improve overall functioning. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) provides treatment guidelines for DID that recommend a psychodynamic phase-oriented treatment approach, involving stabilization, development of adaptive coping skills, trauma processing, and integration of fragmented identities. Treatment must be individualized and paced to match the patient’s capacity and readiness for each phase. Adjunctive therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and hypnotherapy may be helpful. Family therapy can also be incorporated to address the family system dynamics and provide support for the patient. Despite the challenges associated with DID, it is possible to achieve significant improvement in DID symptomatology over time with consistent and expert-guided treatment. Future research is needed to continue to improve the understanding and treatment of DID.
All the empirical literature on what is effective in psychotherapy, not just psychoanalytic therapy, ends up emphasising relationship and personality. And when you talk about relationship or about the working alliance, you're talking about the two parties making an attachment to each other, which is just a fancy word for love. I will try to show how this applies to a very difficult case.
The authors explored the lived experiences of traumatisation among active Black military personnel from a psychodynamic (Object Relations) framework. The broad aim of this study was to explore traumatisation and subsequent long-term undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the presenting behaviour and overall psychological functioning of Black members in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). N=9 members of the SANDF participated in the study. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach and a phenomenological research design. Data was obtained using individual semi-structured interviews, with IPA as a method of analysis. The findings indicated that participants lived experience of traumatisation is a chronic state of psychic, occupational and relational re-traumatisation. Continuous traumatisation that reactivated past unresolved traumas was characterised by annihilation anxiety, psychic numbing and repression. Phenomenologically overall functional paralysis was evidenced in chronic psychological deterioration, which manifests in irreversible damage to character, with cognitive and relational deficits linked to unresolved long-term traumatisation. These findings highlight a need to incorporate psychotherapeutic models focused on integrative meaning making of psychic distress for adaptive functioning of SANDF members, suffering from long-term undiagnosed PTSD syndrome from pre-integration armed forces combat experiences. At present, military forces from developing countries, including South Africa, are deployed to participate in many multinational operations, which extend to
The authors explored the lived experiences of traumatisation among active Black military personnel from a psychodynamic (Object Relations) framework. The broad aim of this study was to explore traumatisation and subsequent long-term undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the presenting behaviour and overall psychological functioning of Black members in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). N=9 members of the SANDF participated in the study. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach and a phenomenological research design. Data was obtained using individual semi-structured interviews, with IPA as a method of analysis. The findings indicated that participants lived experience of traumatisation is a chronic state of psychic, occupational and relational re-traumatisation. Continuous traumatisation that reactivated past unresolved traumas was characterised by annihilation anxiety, psychic numbing and repression. Phenomenologically overall functional paralysis was evidenced in chronic psychological deterioration, which manifests in irreversible damage to character, with cognitive and relational deficits linked to unresolved long-term traumatisation. These findings highlight a need to incorporate psychotherapeutic models focused on integrative meaning making of psychic distress for adaptive functioning of SANDF members, suffering from long-term undiagnosed PTSD syndrome from pre-integration armed forces combat experiences.
We are amid a worldwide disruption of the socio-political order as nationalist and populist currents fuel our divisions, causing people to flee and opening the door to the trauma of immigration. Immigrants and refugees have to experience radical extremity changes in their lives that affect all aspects of their personality, including the content of the personal unconscious.
Our study aims to show how the psyche reacts to the trauma of immigration associated with separation, social and cultural isolation, depersonalization, and the loss of belonging in the context of dreaming. Are there any specific patterns in the dreams of nomads? And is it possible to use such a dreaming experience as a hint, a way to integrate new countries of your soul on the way to the Self?
According to the results of our joint research project, we want to discuss that through dreams; the unconscious helps us comprehend and survive this problematic experience of isolation from the place. It provides an emotional experience that helps to cope with the trauma caused by it in a safe sleep space.
Sociālā darba vārdnīca ir tapusi, apzinoties nepieciešamību pēc informatīva un atbalstoša rīka sociālā darba praksē, sociālā darba izglītības nodrošināšanā un sociālās politikas veidošanā, lai veicinātu vienotu izpratni sociālā darba terminoloģijas lietojumā latviešu valodā. Pastāvot kopējām globālā sociālā darba attīstības tendencēm, katrā pasaules reģionā un katrā valstī sociālais darbs attīstās, ņemot vērā vietējās vajadzības, kultūru, sociālekonomisko situāciju un labklājības valsts modeli. Attīstoties profesijai, attīstās arī profesijā lietotā valoda un terminoloģija, kas ir nozīmīga kā sociālā darba speciālistu saskarsmē ar pakalpojumu lietotājiem, tā arī savstarpējā komunikācijā un starpprofesionālajā sadarbībā. Profesijā lietotā valoda, tāpat kā valoda kopumā, gan atspoguļo, gan konstruē noteiktu pasaules ainu, tā ir būtisks instruments profesionālās darbības interpretācijā, speciālistu sadarbībā un profesijas pašizpratnē. Sociālā darbinieka lietotā valoda var ievirzīt to, kādā veidā sociālais darbinieks redz noteiktu problēmu vai tās risinājumu, kā arī to, kā izprot cilvēkus, kuriem palīdz. Vārdi ir valodas pamatvienības, tie apzīmē priekšmetus un parādības, to attiecības, vārdi palīdz izprast pasauli, bet, aplam lietoti, tie var arī maldināt. Tāpēc ir svarīgi iedziļināties lietoto vārdu nozīmēs, lai noskaidrotu, ko tie atklāj par sociālā darba būtību.
Biofiction is a hybrid literary genre that appropriates historical lives and molds them into the subject of fiction; it uses historical characters rather than representing them. This literary genre, which has stimulated a vast array of reactions over the past few decades, is not a branch of history or biography. Anna Enquist’s 2005 novel The Homecoming is a successful example of biofiction that revolves around the illustrious life of Thomas Cook but tells the story from the perspective of his wife Elizabeth Cook. Through the reconstructed voices of these historical figures, the reader is offered alternative perspectives into their lives as well as into the British Empire in the eighteenth century. Stanford Shaw’s critically acclaimed Between Old and New (1971), on the other hand, is a history book that aims to offer a factual representation of the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire, particularly the reign of Sultan Selim III. This chapter aims to examine the interesting parallels and differences in the lives of these historical figures as depicted in a work of biofiction and a history book and show how differences in genre implicate the portrayal of historical figures.
This discussion centers around Weisel-Barth’s question about the limits of empathy and the use of what she refers to as expanded empathy. The author views some of the clinical moments Weisel-Barth describes through the lens of a trauma and dissociation informed perspective resting on the presumption of the multiplicity of the self. The explosive disruption Weisel-Barth describes is viewed as an enactment expressing multiple layers of trauma, including intergenerational trauma.
Connecting the personal and the cultural, these pages offer a few impressions of the author’s personal immigration narrative. Fleeing an archetypal oppression can lead to a relationship with the archetype of the oppressor. Here, the author takes the reader on her quest for the middle path, the transcendent, the self. Through her mother’s experiences as a young Jewish woman in France in WWII, the trauma passed down to the author, and her journey from being hidden to being seen, she mends the broken pieces of her psyche.
In this paper, I will present a theoretical and experiential discussion about what happens after detachment from relational trauma. I will present insights from the attachment theory as well as neuroscience. I will also discuss limbic resonance, limbic regulation, and limbic revision, and will present techniques that will help with achieving them. A case history that highlights the theoretical discussions will be presented. I will discuss transference and resistance from a neuroscience perspective and will argue that if not worked through, they can impede progress in therapy and healing. I will also discuss the process of healing from a neuroscience perspective. A technique that can help to internalize connection and contact will also be presented.
Twins are not singletons and vice versa. Unless the distinction between twins and singletons is understood in some depth, it is impossible to discuss any questions relating to twins and the transpersonal in a serious manner. This paper provides a guide to the thrust of the argument in terms of the four levels of difference: intergroup; intragroup; interpersonal; and personal. The effects of the varieties of singleton gaze, singleton common sense beliefs, let alone singleton prejudices, on twins in today’s culture will be examined. The voice of ‘the twin’ (singular, plural and representative) is seldom differentiated from the voice of ‘the singleton’. Non-twins clearly lack inside knowledge of what it is like to be a twin. Twins have such inside knowledge. Twins are not singletons and vice versa. Unless the distinction between twins and singletons is understood in some depth, it is impossible to discuss any questions relating to twins and the transpersonal in a serious manner. This paper provides a guide to the thrust of the argument in terms of the four levels of difference: intergroup; intragroup; interpersonal; and personal. The effects of the varieties of singleton gaze, singleton common sense beliefs, let alone singleton prejudices, on twins in today’s culture will be examined. The voice of ‘the twin’ (singular, plural and representative) is seldom differentiated from the voice of ‘the singleton’. Non-twins clearly lack inside knowledge of what it is like to be a twin. Twins have such inside knowledge. Twins are not singletons and vice versa. Unless the distinction between twins and singletons is understood in some depth, it is impossible to discuss any questions relating to twins and the transpersonal in a serious manner. This paper provides a guide to the thrust of the argument in terms of the four levels of difference: intergroup; intragroup; interpersonal; and personal. The effects of the varieties of singleton gaze, singleton common sense beliefs, let alone singleton prejudices, on twins in today’s culture will be examined. The voice of ‘the twin’ (singular, plural and representative) is seldom differentiated from the voice of ‘the singleton’. Non-twins clearly lack inside knowledge of what it is like to be a twin. Twins have such inside knowledge. Twins are not singletons and vice versa. Unless the distinction between twins and singletons is understood in some depth, it is impossible to discuss any questions relating to twins and the transpersonal in a serious manner. This paper provides a guide to the thrust of the argument in terms of the four levels of difference: intergroup; intragroup; interpersonal; and personal. The effects of the varieties of singleton gaze, singleton common sense beliefs, let alone singleton prejudices, on twins in today’s culture will be examined. The voice of ‘the twin’ (singular, plural and representative) is seldom differentiated from the voice of ‘the singleton’. Non-twins clearly lack inside knowledge of what it is like to be a twin. Twins have such inside knowledge.
The special issue of the Transpersonal Psychology Review on ‘Post-traumatic Growth and Spirituality’ focuses on the positive responses of adult ‘survivors’ to the grief and mourning that results from the death of close family members or friends. Another feature of the issue is the use of ‘autoethnography’, an acceptable way of using personal experience to illustrate specific psychological issues. This brief article will examine the issues raised when young children are affected by trauma.
The author, although an analyst, is an initiate into the topic of environmental destruction. Following Wendell Berry, she enters the dark and begins a journey of dream-like reflection, weaving images from her own dream and drawing on the work of Vaughan, Bernstein, Soloveitchik and Sacks. She asks, 'not if but where does climate change enter the room?'. The second half of the paper focuses on the manifestations of environmental destruction in dreams and sandplay from three patients and one dream group participant. The paper argues that the analyst must see and intuit before our patients can access the objective layer of environmental destruction in dreams and symbolic material. In this way, the climate becomes the wounded patient, and the analyst as wounded healer must first access his/her own relationship to the wounds inside. Finally, using an ancient Jewish mythological story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author argues that Jungian analysts must work to find balance between the inner world of depth psychology and the outer world with its challenges and problems that include environmental destruction.
Jung used creative methods such as picture-making and active imagination to work with complexes and in particular trauma and dissociation. A clinical example of a 60-year-old woman demonstrates the benefits of using creative methods to work with issues linked to early life, such as somatic intrusions of early childhood trauma. Significant inner figures were delineated, including the original figure associated with the infantile dissociative split. The figures illustrated Jung's complex theory by making visible the nonverbal inner states that were initially feared and experienced as Other. Within an analytic relationship that included a working through, an innate creative process unfolded that permitted inner figures to become agents of change within her psyche. This paper highlights the value of Jung's complex theory and the use of creative methods when working with dissociation, regression and unformulated infantile states, even when the analysand is in the later stages of adulthood.
This article, taken from a presentation offered in the fall of 2019 at the Inter-Regional Invitational Conference entitled “Despair and Hope: Holding the Center in Turbulent Times” follows its original production in two Acts. Act I addresses how the Rosarium, an alchemical series, presents a template for the transformation of solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) soul energies. A comparison to the Christian rosary is made, highlighting the importance of Mary and her role in the Passion. The dynamics of the series will be elaborated in a new way culminating with an image of a deeply reflective lunar consciousness. This compassionate witnessing is posited as a necessary attitude in order to facilitate change in individuals and social systems. It is a new “third thing” that mediates the opposites in trauma.
Act II addresses how, in a patriarchy, “the masculine” remains privileged by virtue of its very label and its culturally venerated attributes, while “the feminine” is too often relegated to the realm of “lesser.” In this imbalanced way of engaging both our inner and outer worlds, women’s anger is experienced as discomforting. That discomfort, in turn, precludes exploration into legitimate grievance. The dialogue in Act II invites the reader to look to the imperative of legitimate grievance and to consider how doing so can help deconstruct the political and cultural power structures that are historically fought over by those who are invested in and benefitting from the patriarchy and by those who are not. In the Epilogue the authors reflect on the experience of engaging archetypal material both in dialogue and in community.
This autoethnographic manuscript uses Jungian principles to analyze three cultural complexes of Black American masculine consciousness: the orphan, exile, and invisibility complexes. The author applies the archetypal image of the orphan to better explain the collective psychic response of the Black American male to his traumatic reception in the United States. The author notes the original cultural trauma for Black Americans was their abduction from Africa for the institution of slavery, begetting the internal trauma responses that deemed exile/departure from “Black culture,” invisibility, and the internalization of oppression to be necessary complexes for their continued survival. Within this article, the author uses much of his personal narrative to capture a Black American male’s heroic journey for his true self while battling a society in which he historically felt a foreigner.
A nem öngyilkossági szándékkal történő szándékos önsértés egy ernyőfogalom, amely számos viselkedésformát (pl. vágás, ütés, harapás, karmolás, égetés) foglal magában. Az utóbbi évtizedben élettartam-prevalenciája dinamikus emelkedést mutat a fiatalok körében. A nem szuicidális önsértés továbbá nemcsak mentális zavarokhoz kapcsolódhat, hanem nem klinikai mintákban is előforduló jelenség. Mindez a nem szuicidális önsértő viselkedés etiológiájának, a hátterében meghúzódó okoknak, magának a folyamatnak és megszűnésének részletes és komplex feltárását sürgeti. Ezt a jelenség eredetének multidimenzionális természete nehezíti. Maguk a nem szuicidális önsértést magyarázó modellek is igen sokrétűek, az integratív szemlélet kevéssé tűnik fel. A téma-összefoglaló tanulmány bemutatja a nem szuicidális önsértés magyarázó modelljeinek teljes spektrumát. Részletesen áttekinti a biológiai, a pszichológiai, a társas, a fejlődés-pszichopatológiai és a pszichodinamikus modelleket, majd kitekintésként a kulturális és a rendszerszemléleti perspektívát is beemeli a nem szuicidális önsértés magyarázatába. A bemutatott modellek kapcsán empirikus bizonyítékokat is felsorakoztat.
The archetypal image of the puella aeterna or eternal girl frequently constellates in modern women, and many women identify with this pattern as a result of a combination of cultural expectations and personal psychology. However, the psychological pattern of the puella-identified woman is complex. To understand the formation and manifestation thereof, it is important to explore the psychological development and formation patterns that may result in a woman identifying with, and fixating on, the puella archetypal image. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the different types of puella women in modern society, their dynamics and characteristics, as well as the psychological development underlying these different types. Based on an integration of the material of post-Jungians on the archetypal image and psychological development perspectives relating to puella aeterna women, three distinct types of puella women and their dynamics are discussed: the eternal girl behind armored glass (the counter-dependent narcissistic character), the eternal darling girl (the dependent narcissistic character), and the eternal proud warrior princess (the alpha narcissistic character). The archetypal images and psychological development underlying these different types, as well as the characteristics of these women in modern society, are also discussed. Since the psychological health of these women is often camouflaged in society and within themselves, it is important to create interventions that will not only outline these psychological patterns, but also assist these post-modern women to develop insight into their own psychological dynamics.
This paper proposes a distinction between fantasy and imagination, and endeavors to investigate its interconnectedness with trauma, as well as its implications to the therapeutic encounter with the psychic areas of trauma, dissociation, and repetition. Whereas imagination is an active phenomenon which resides within the dialectic of inner and outer worlds, increases psychic movement and works in the service of linking self-states within the subject and with his or her fellow subjects, fantasy is a phenomenon which is caused by trauma and isolates the subject both from his core self as well as from any sense of reality and connection with others. The paper offers a detailed exploration of these two modes of being and experiencing and of the psychic structures which comprise them, and demonstrates the ways by which the movement between imagination and fantasy, each with its own unique qualities, can enable patient and analyst to encounter, together, the experiences which were traumatized and dissociated. The clinical implications are discussed, and a detailed vignette is presented in order to demonstrate the elusive ways in which fantasy acts between patient and therapist in an effort to resuscitate deadened parts of the patient’s traumatized psychic life and bring them to the world of imagination and human connection.
The progressive escalation in military suicides, along with a substantial increase in post-traumatic stress diagnosis among active military personnel and veterans, has become a significant humanitarian, societal, and cultural concern. Such a defining moment illuminates the need for timely and innovative treatment approaches for combat-related post-traumatic stress. This research explored depth psychological practices within short-term, group-based treatment programs. Using a phenomenological research method, interviews were conducted with six former combat veteran alumni of these programs to gather new insights and understanding into their lived experience. Informants described meaningful reductions in post-traumatic stress, moral injury, and treatment-resistance, while treatment completion rates increased significantly. Research findings suggest depth psychological practices do exhibit compelling potential as valuable, or formidable treatment approaches, alongside current evidence-based treatments. Based on the findings of this preliminary exploration future research is warranted on depth psychological treatments and group-based programs for combat-related post-traumatic stress.
Barely a century has passed since anime (Japanese animation) was first screened to a Western audience. Over time the number of anime genres and generic hybrids have significantly grown. These have been influenced and inspired by various historical and cultural phenomena, one of which, Japanese native religion and spirituality, this book argues is an important and dominant although Buddhism, Christianity and a range of mythologies also feature. There have always been anime lovers in the West, but today that number is growing exponentially, with numerous anime clubs, festivals and related events been organised the world over. This is intriguing as many Japanese anime directors and studios initially created works that were not aimed at a Western audience at all. A passion for anime has led some fans, or aficionados as they are referred to in this book, to make personal translations of anime, to don the costume of beloved characters, and to undertake anime ‘pilgrimages’. The mutual imbrication of the profane and sacred worlds in anime, along with the profound reciprocal relationship between ‘Eastern’ (Japanese) and ‘Western’ (chiefly American) culture in the development of the anime artistic form, form the twin narrative arcs of the book. One of the most significant contributions of this book is the analysis of the employment of spiritual and religious motifs by directors. The reception of this content by fans is also examined. The appeal of anime to aficionados is, broadly speaking, the appeal of the spiritual in a post-religious world, in which personal identity and meaning in life may be crafted from popular cultural texts which offer an immersive and enchanting experience that, for many in the modern world, is more thrilling and authentic than ‘real life’. In the past, religions posited that after human existence on earth had ceased, the individual soul would be reincarnated again, or perhaps would reside in heaven. In the early twenty-first century, spiritual seekers still desire a life beyond that of everyday reality ardently, and just as passionately believe in the existence of other worlds and the afterlife. However, the other worlds are the fantasy landscapes and outer space settings of anime (and other popular cultural forms), and the afterlife of digital circuitry and the electronic impulses of the Internet. These important new understandings of religion and the spiritual underpin anime’s status as a major site of new religious and spiritual inspiration in the West, and indeed, the world. This study is a timely publication, both as a resource for anime fans new and existing, young and old, who desire to know more about the religion and mythology of Japan and how it informs anime (and manga), and as a worthy addition to the small but growing academic literature on the topic.
Animal activists serve as symptom-bearers for trans-species collective trauma within Western-industrial society. Findings from literature on traumatology and nonhuman animal activism, contemporary discourse, and the voices of ten activists currently in the field suggest that many animal activists suffer some form of trauma. Activist trauma arises through overlapping, complex relational processes of intersubjective attunement with nonhuman animals and embeddedness within a human social context that disavows nonhuman suffering. In understanding activist trauma as a symptom of a dysfunctional system, I depathologize activist suffering and view activists as integral members of a whole society that seeks healing.
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