Feb 21 @ 7:30pm @ Jung Society of Atlanta, $35. About Trauma. See you there! Donald Kalsched, Ph.D. The Lost and Recovered Soul in the Psychotherapy of Early Trauma When trauma strikes the developing psyche of a child, a split sometimes occurs in which an innocent part of the personality (true self) retreats into the unconscious where it continues to live in suspended animation as a lost soul. Deprived of this lost spark, the outer personality (false self) struggles to survive in a de-animated and soul-less world, often falls into depression, and sometimes seeks psychotherapeutic help. As psychotherapy begins, however, a dramatic struggle often ensues within the therapeutic relationship. This struggle results from the fact that an unconscious “vow” has been made deep within the psyche of the trauma survivor, never to allow the lost heart of the self into relationship again. The lost soul secretly “wants” to emerge and re-engage life, but dissociative defenses (constituting an archaic self-care system) prevent this return, encapsulating the true self and leaving it imprisoned by the dark and violent powers of the archetypal world. Dreams during the psychotherapy process often demonstrate such “possession,” revealing both the lost soul and its spirit-protector now turned persecutory. And fairytales describe a similar “bargain” with spiritual powers in which a “child” is given up to a witch or demon, and must subsequently be rescued. This constitutes a therapeutic problem for which “love” is not the answer—or at least only part of the answer. How the psychotherapy process, with its combination of intimacy and separateness, libido and aggression, insight and embodied experience, invites the lost soul back into relationship, will be the focus of this lecture/workshop. The Abandoned Child and its Return February 21, Friday Lecture 7:30 pm members: $35; non-members $50; students $25 In this slide-illustrated lecture, Dr. Kalsched will describe a series of dramatic moments in the psychotherapy of trauma survivors where a breakthrough occurred in the clients access to dissociated feelings. These moments usually occurred when “transitional space”—long since foreclosed by trauma—was re-opened between therapist and patient, and the psyches mytho-poetic matrix re-potentiated. One sign of this “re-potentiation” is the vivid dreams that often occur at such moments—dreams in which a lost or abandoned “child” appears—often menaced by the psyches oppressive powers. The speaker will then show the parallels between these dreams and those ancient myths that describe the birth and trials of the archetypal Hero—the one who always carries a dual destiny—part human, part divine. The Soul in Hell and its Liberation: Reflections on Clinical Depression in Light of Dantes Divine Comedy February 22, Saturday Workshop 10:00 am - 5:00 pm members: $90; non-members $120; students $75; CEUs $15 (includes lecture if paid before lecture) Trauma survivors often report that their lives are a “living Hell.” This pathological situation is created by the psyches archetypal defenses and their depressive power over what one psychoanalyst called “the lost heart of the self,” with its desire for love and intimate relationship. Psychotherapy of this condition involves what the medieval theologians called a “Descendit ad Inferos”—a harrowing descent into all the hellish un-remembered pain of the patients early life. Dantes Divine Comedy gives us a beautiful literary example of such a companioned descent, as Virgil and Dante descend into the nether regions in order to heal the poets mid-life depression. Following Dante and his guide down to their confrontation with the “dark Lord” of Hades, Dr. Kalsched will show in this slide-illustrated presentation how depth psychotherapy in conjunction with affective neuro-science, and the findings of attachment theory and relational theory all lead toward answers of the central question posed by both the clinical and literary material, vis. how can the otherwise sealed crypt of Hell be opened and its occupants liberated? Donald Kalsched, Ph.D. is a Jungian psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist who practiced in the New York area for 40 years. He is a senior faculty member and supervisor with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, and teaches and leads workshops nationally and internationally. His celebrated book The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit (Routledge, 1996) explores the interface between contemporary psychoanalytic theory and Jungian theory as it relates to practical clinical work with the survivors of early childhood trauma. His recent book Trauma and the Soul: A Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Human Development and its Interruption (Routledge, 2013) explores the mystical dimensions of clinical work with trauma-survivors. He and his wife Robin van Loben Sels, also a Jungian analyst, live in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the winter, and summer in Newfoundland Canada.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 05:37:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015