In the Shadow of the Towers; The Role of Retraumatization and Political Action in the Evolution of a Psychoanalyst

Kuchuck, Steven

doi:10.1521/prev.2008.95.3.417

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In the years since then, in psychoanalytic literature the term vicarious trauma is frequently conflated with secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout (see, e.g., Frawley-O’Dea, 2003; Goren, 2005; Kuchuck, 2008; Reubens, 2007). These terms are not interchangeable; the differences should be clearly understood.…”

Section: Vicarious Trauma: History and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In his work over the last two decades, Borgogno (see, e.g., Borgogno, 2014) uses the metaphor of contagion; he emphasizes of the necessity of ‘falling sick’ “with the same illness which is affecting the patient and then ‘recovering’ in order to re-mobilize the patient’s will to return to life” (p. 8). Other authors (Bellinson, 2014; Feldman, 2015; Goren, 2005; Howell, 2002; Kafka, 2008; Kuchuck, 2008; Shubs, 2008) describe cases where their vicarious trauma has led to striking insights and highly effective treatments.…”

Section: Does Vicarious Trauma Inhibit or Enhance The Clinician’s Abi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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When is vicarious trauma a necessary therapeutic tool?

Boulanger¹

2018

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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Trauma is contagious; its powerful affect and frequently unformulated memories can be transmittedsometimes nonverbally and often mysteriously-within families, across generations, and from patient to clinician; in the latter case it is commonly referred to as vicarious trauma. In emphasizing trauma's contagious quality, the current paper explores the relationship between vicarious trauma and dissociation. The author reviews a number of neuropsychological, cognitive, and psychodynamic explanations for this uncanny clinical phenomenon and its frequently unremarked boundary failures. Despite its disorienting effect on clinicians, it is suggested that in a long-term clinical engagement with a survivor of massive psychic trauma, vicarious trauma can be essential in helping both clinicians and patients process the traumatic material. Contrasting examples illustrate those occasions in which the emotional contagion can be addressed in treatment using containment, validation, and imagination, and other occasions, when there is no therapeutic contract, and other means must be found to formulate the dissociated material.

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Section: Vicarious Trauma: History and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Does Vicarious Trauma Inhibit or Enhance The Clinician’s Abi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

When is vicarious trauma a necessary therapeutic tool?

Boulanger¹

2018

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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“…In conclusion, I want to mention that like others who write about mutuality and the analyst's subjectivity, I believe that with the obvious exception of pathology, exploitation, or other malig-nant exchanges, what is good for the analyst is usually good for the patient, and growth and evolution in one often parallels the same in the other (Maroda, 2002). While discretion is always indicated, unexamined hiding is not, and it is unhealthy for us and our patients (Kuchuck, 2008). As we emerge from hiding and therapeutically reveal more of our true, sometimes less than idealizable selves, we learn-as patients do-that imperfection and mistakes are part of our humanity and in many cases even enhance the work, or at least can be tolerated and survived.…”

Section: Final Thoughtsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Do Ask, Do Tell? Narcissistic Need as a Determinant of Analyst Self-Disclosure

Kuchuck¹

2009

The Psychoanalytic Review

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“…Until recently (Kuchuck, 2008), accounts of senior therapists who have expertise in managing their own trauma experiences over the course of a lifetime while working with trauma survivors have mostly been missing from the literature. Moving and instructive accounts of single traumatic events do appear: for instance, the impact of the death of a spouse (Rapaport, 2000; Stolorow, 1999) and accounts of a more uncommon, but highly feared, loss in a therapist's life, the suicide of a client (Rycroft, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersecting losses: Working with the inevitable vicissitudes in therapist and client lives.

Weingarten

2010

Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training

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Therapists working with clients with severe trauma histories over long periods of time may find themselves managing traumatic events in their own lives-illness, divorce, death-at the same time as they are assisting their clients to live productively with their painful pasts. While a few accounts exist describing how therapists deal with single overwhelming events, very little has been written about how therapists manage ongoing or prolonged episodes of severe stressors with a busy clinical practice of clients with severe trauma histories. Yet, we know that support for therapists is crucial to longevity in the field and we also know that learning from the experience of others is a highly recommended form of support. This paper is an account by a senior clinician of how she has maintained a productive clinical practice despite personal losses. Therapists who struggle with personal losses probably deal with choices related to self-disclosure more than therapists who do not have such experiences; they have repeated opportunities to establish appropriate and effective levels of self-disclosure for them and the people with whom they work. The paper presents a template for thinking about the risks and benefits of self-disclosure while at the same time modeling a level of self-disclosure that may be beneficial to therapists looking for examples.

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In the Shadow of the Towers; The Role of Retraumatization and Political Action in the Evolution of a Psychoanalyst

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

When is vicarious trauma a necessary therapeutic tool?

When is vicarious trauma a necessary therapeutic tool?

Do Ask, Do Tell? Narcissistic Need as a Determinant of Analyst Self-Disclosure

Intersecting losses: Working with the inevitable vicissitudes in therapist and client lives.

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