Donald Kalsched

In Trauma and the Soul, Donald Kalsched continues the exploration he began in his first book, The Inner World of Trauma (1996)e"this time going further into the mystical or spiritual moments that often occur around the intimacies of psychoanalytic work. Through extended clinical vignettes, including therapeutic dialogue and dreams, he shows how depth psychotherapy with traumae(tm)s survivors can open both analytic partners to "another world" of non-ordinary reality in which daimonic powers reside, both light and dark. This mytho-poetic world, he suggests, is not simply a defensive product of our struggle with the harsh realities of living as Freud suggested, but is an everlasting fact of human experiencee"a mystery that is often at the very center of the healing process, and yet at other times, strangely resists it. With these "two worlds" in focus, Kalsched explores a variety of themes as he builds, chapter by chapter, an integrated psycho-spiritual approach to trauma and its treatment including: images of the lost soul-child in dreams and how this "child" represents an essential core of aliveness that is both protected and persecuted by the psychee(tm)s defenses; Dantee(tm)s guided descent into the Inferno of Hell as a paradigm for the psychotherapy process and its inevitable struggle with self-destructive energies; childhood innocence and its central role in a persone(tm)s spiritual life seen through the story of St. Exuprye(tm)s The Little Prince; how clinical attention to implicit processes in the relational field, as well as discoveries in body-based affective neuroscience are making trauma treatment more effective; the life of C.G. Jung as it portrays his early trauma, his soule(tm)s retreat into an inner sanctuary, and his gradual recovery of wholeness through the integration of his divided self. This is a book that restores the mystery to psychoanalytic work. It tells stories of ordinary patients and ordinary psychotherapists who, through working together, glimpse the reality of the human soul and the depth of the spirit, and are changed by the experience. Trauma and the Soul will be of particular interest to practicing psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, and expressive arts therapists, including those with a "spiritual" orientation. Donald Kalsched is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. He is the author of numerous articles in analytical psychology, and lectures widely on the subject of early trauma and its treatment. His books include The Inner World of Trauma (1996).

A Psycho-Spiritual Approach to Human Development and Its Interruption

Trauma and the Soul

Drawing on answers revealed to Kalsched through the dreams, fantasies and interpersonal struggles of his traumatized clients, he shows how we can use the resulting enhanced understanding to help victims of early trauma.

Archetypal Defenses of the Personal Spirit

The Inner World of Trauma

Donald Kalsched schetst in Trauma en de ziel een levendig beeld van het proces dat ieder mens kan doormaken wanneer er een diep trauma is opgelopen. Hij begint bij de oorsprong van dat trauma, waarbij sprake kan zijn geweest van fysieke of emotionele verwaarlozing of mishandeling en maakt de verdedigingsmechanismen bewust die het onschuldige kind of oorspronkelijke zelf moesten beschermen. Deze mechanismen kunnen in iemands latere, volwassen leven tot dysfunctionele situaties leiden. Kalsched laat met inzichten uit het werk van Jung zien dat het helingsproces van trauma via afweer naar herstel, een spiritueel proces is waarbij de ziel afdaalt naar de hel waaruit ze later gered wordt. Op meeslepende wijze vertelt hij de verhalen van gewone patiënten, hoe zij in de intieme setting van zijn praktijk een glimp opvangen van de menselijke ziel en de diepte van de geest en hoe de ervaring van een niet-alledaagse werkelijkheid tot diepgaande transformatie kan leiden. Een verscheidenheid aan thema's komt aan bod terwijl, hoofdstuk voor hoofdstuk, een unieke geïntegreerde psycho-spirituele benadering van trauma wordt opgebouwd. Aandacht voor impliciete processen in het relationele veld, evenals ontdekkingen in de lichaamsgerichte neurowetenschappen, maken de behandeling van trauma effectiever. Met dit standaardwerk ontrafelt en herstelt Kalsched het mysterie van psychoanalytisch werk.

Een psycho-spirituele benadering van persoonlijke ontwikkeling en onderbrekingen

Trauma en de ziel

Donald Kalsched explores the interior world of dream and fantasy images encountered in therapy with people who have suffered unbearable life experiences. He shows how, in an ironical twist of psychical life, the very images which are generated to defend the self can become malevolent and destructive, resulting in further trauma for the person. Why and how this happens are the questions the book sets out to answer. Drawing on detailed clinical material, the author gives special attention to the problems of addiction and psychosomatic disorder, as well as the broad topic of dissociation and its treatment. By focusing on the archaic and primitive defenses of the self he connects Jungian theory and practice with contemporary object relations theory and dissociation theory. At the same time, he shows how a Jungian understanding of the universal images of myth and folklore can illuminate treatment of the traumatised patient. Trauma is about the rupture of those developmental transitions that make life worth living. Donald Kalsched sees this as a spiritual problem as well as a psychological one and in The Inner World of Trauma he provides a compelling insight into how an inner self-care system tries to save the personal spirit.

Donald Kalsched

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