Wounded by reality : understanding and treating adult onset trauma / Ghislaine Boulanger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boulanger, Ghislaine.

Series:

Psychoanalysis in a new key book series ; v. 6.

Psychoanalysis in a new key book series ; v. 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychic trauma.

Psychotherapy.

Dissociation (Psychology).

Physical Description:

xiii, 202 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Mahwah, NJ : Analytic Press, 2007.

Summary:

When catastrophic events overtake adult lives, they can often scar the psyche in ways that psychodynamic clinicians struggle to understand. The adult survivor of a catastrophe-whether a life-threatening assault, a serious accident, an act of terrorism, or a natural disaster-experiences a near fatal disruption of fundamental aspects of self experience. Many who have physically survived catastrophic trauma are uncertain that they have psychologically survived their ordeal.

The culmination of three decades of studying and treating survivors of adult onset trauma, Wounded by Reality is the first systematic attempt to differentiate adult onset trauma from childhood trauma, with which it is frequently confused. Integrating recent findings in the neurobiology of stress and developmental psychology with relational psychoanalytic concepts, Ghislaine Boulanger provides psychodynamic clinicians with a comprehensive guide to recognizing the symptoms, understanding the dynamics, and working productively with these individuals. Extensive clinical material illustrates the difficulties as well as the clinical promise of this demanding work.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Toward a Psychodynamic Understanding of Adult Onset Trauma 1

Chapter 2 Catastrophic Dissociation and Childhood Trauma: Some Distinctions 19

Chapter 3 The Cost of Survival: Historical Perspectives on Adult Onset Trauma 41

Chapter 4 Wounded by Reality: The Relational Turn 61

Chapter 5 The Core Self in Crisis: Deconstructing Catastrophic Dissociation 77

Chapter 6 The Relational Self in Crisis: Further Deconstructing Catastrophic Dissociation 95

Chapter 7 From Voyeur to Witness: The Crisis in Symbolic Functioning During Catastrophic Dissociation 113

Chapter 8 The Ancient Mariner's Dilemma: Constructing a Trauma Narrative 131

Chapter 9 The Strength Found in Innocence: Resistance to Working Psychodynamically with Survivors of Adult Onset Trauma 151

Chapter 10 The Psychological Politics of Catastrophe: Local, Personal, and Professional 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-195) and index.

ISBN:

9780881634303

0881634301

OCLC:

132690779