A fascinating compendium of articles that look at trauma through a myriad of lenses--existential neuroscience, history, psychoanalysis, sociology, traumatic stress research, literature--these beautifly crafted essays engage the reader throughout. Dori Laub's research into the importance of witnessing and gathering testimony from victims of severe trauma--whether related to the Holocaust, sexual abuse, or war--to help them create narratives out of what was inchoate pain, is central to so many of the contributors. Research is used as witness in Robert Jay Lipton's work and so too is literature as in Schreiber's discussion of Toni Morrison's fiction. The chapters on brain research help us to better understand the individual and social impact of trauma and how much has been learned in recent years that influences the way clinicians interact with patients. Bringing together a neurobiological and psychological understanding of trauma, Schreiber's edited volume is an essential book for psychoanalysts who want to have a more thorough understanding of trauma as well as for all those in other disciplines who are interested in the subject. --Batya R. Monder, MSW, BCD, Training & Supervising Analyst, Contemporary Freudian Society (CFS) With a finite blend of history, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and studies of creativity with a finite blend of history, neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and studies of creativity, Schreiber's book offers deep and far-reaching insights into the nature of psychic trauma and its long-lasting effects. Healing Trauma addresses the anguish of survivors of the Holocaust, veterans of war, targets of racism, victims of rape, and sufferers of natural disasters. The book's emphasis upon listening and its fundamentally interdisciplinary approach undergirds ameliorative strategies in this realm. A moving and clinically useful contribution, indeed! --Salman Akhtar, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas Jefferson University. Author, Broken Structures: Severe Personality Disorders and their Treatment; The African American Experience: Psychoanalytic Perspectives; Freud along the Ganges, and others A fascinating compendium of articles that look at trauma through a myriad of lenses--existential neuroscience, history, psychoanalysis, sociology, traumatic stress research, literature--these beautifully crafted essays engage the reader throughout. Dori Laub's research into the importance of witnessing and gathering testimony from victims of severe trauma--whether related to the Holocaust, sexual abuse, or war--to help them create narratives out of what was inchoate pain, is central to so many of the contributors. Research is used as witness in Robert Jay Lifton's work and so too is literature as in Schreiber's discussion of Toni Morrison's fiction. The chapters on brain research help us to better understand the individual and social impact of trauma and how much has been learned in recent years that influences the way clinicians interact with patients. Bringing together a neurobiological and psychological understanding of trauma, Schreiber's edited volume is an essential book for psychoanalysts who want to have a more thorough understanding of trauma as well as for all those in other disciplines who are interested in the subject. --Batya R. Monder, MSW, BCD, Training & Supervising Analyst, Contemporary Freudian Society (CFS) Listening is the heart of all trauma therapy. In Healing Trauma, edited by Evelyn Schreiber, experts in the field examine the core listening processes in trauma treatment. Clinical and experiential examples intimately absorb the reader in the processes of witnessing, symbolic representation, making metaphor, holding the unspeakable, and finding ways to actively and creatively engage traumatic process. Healing Trauma is an eye-opening, must read for all students of trauma. --Janet Bachant, PhD, Professor of Psychology, State College, Metropolitan Center Table of Contents Acknowledgments....................................................................... ix Preface........................................................................................ xi "Introduction" by Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber..................................... 1 Trauma: Definitions and Functions "Research as Witness" Robert Jay Lifton with comments by Cathy Caruth....................................................................... 13 "Repeating the Past in Pathology and in Theory: Practical Suggestions for the Field of Traumatic Stress" Harold Kudler .......................................................................... 39 "Trauma, Neuroscience, and Narratives of Lived Experience" James Griffith........................................................................... 55 "Mind-Body Adaptation to Adverse Experiences" Allen R. Dyer............................................................................ 79 Treatment: Intersubjective Engagements "Testimony as Part of the Therapeutic Process in Psychoanalysis" Dori Laub....................................................... 97 "'I Could Eat You Up: ' Philomela, Trauma, and Enactment" Nanette C. Auerhahn............................................109 "Bion's Reverie and Meditation in Psychoanalytic Therapy of Trauma" Arthur S. Blank, Jr................................................ 137 "Transference as Interference When Listening to Psychosis and Trauma" Françoise Davoine.............................................151 "Meta-Witnessing: a New Perspective on Witnessing Trauma" Marilyn B. Meyers..................................................... 169 "Finding Metaphor and Symbol for the Unbearable: A Trauma Museum of the 'Terrible Real' and 'Creative Representation'" Nancy R. Goodman...................... 183 Trauma Manifested in Social Spaces "Trauma Made Manifest: Its Persistent Forms" Myra Sklarew........................................................................... 203 "National Nightmare: The Legacy of Perpetrator Trauma in Groups and Families" Gerard Fromm.................................. 221 "Trauma and Identity: The Challenge of Becoming Oneself" Marilyn Charles......................................................... 237 "Moral Injury and Healing: Contemporary and Ancient Lessons" Nancy Sherman........................................................257 "Literature as Witness: Trauma and Hope in Toni Morrison's God Help the Child" Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber........................... .287 "Law & Order: TV, Poetry & Process" Jane Shore.................. 299 Contributors.............................................................................315 |