A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Social Trauma presents a thorough introduction to social trauma from a range of perspectives, exploring several key themes, specific causes and symptoms and clinical interventions.

With chapters from a diverse range of authors, the book considers social trauma as it relates to stories and history, group identity, the consulting room, migration, and post-traumatic conditions. These topics are explored via a range of frames, including individual therapy, group analysis, social dream matrix, large groups, case studies, narrative recollections, and cinematographic expression. The book also considers the implications of new technology in causing and treating social trauma.

A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Social Trauma will be of great interest to psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in training, psychoanalysts, and psychoanalytically informed professionals working with trauma.

About the Author

Cristina Calarasanu is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist based in Romania. She is president of the Romanian Association for the Psychoanalysis of Group and Family Links, IACFP (International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis) General Secretary and Scientific Council Member, EFPP (European Federation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy) Board Member and Chair of the Couple and Family Section.

Ulrich Schultz-Venrath is Professor of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany, and a psychoanalyst and training group analyst, working in private practice in Cologne, Germany. Until March 2021, he was chair of the group section of EFPP.

Hansjorg Messner is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in London, UK. He is a senior member of the BPF (British Psychoanalytic Council) and BPC (British Psychotherapy Foundation), as well as Vice President and Chair of the adult section in the EFPP and board member of the federation.

Reviews

"This is an impressive book of high relevance for the general audience. Social traumata - from marital and family violence, from rapes to warfare - burrow deeply into psychic structure, personal and group identity, into our ability to learn and love and to enjoy new experiences. Violence makes people silent. Primo Levi's horrific experience was that no ear wanted to listen what had been done to him in Auschwitz. Being silenced is a new social trauma. This book valuably contributes to the task to open public reception and therapeutic ears to what has been silenced - it's a must-read for the future of the helping professions."

Michael B. Buchholz, Professor, International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin, Germany

"First delivered in 2018, these selected psychoanalytic reflections on the problem of social trauma are needed even more urgently in 2022. Focused on the clinical aspects of working with persons who have experienced the acute pain of forced immigration, separation, and loss (and many more), in both individual and group forms of treatment, this book will be necessary to everyone engaged in psychoanalytic psychotherapy - as a guideline, as inspiration, and as a source of support."

Aleksandar Dimitrijevic, PhD, International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin, Germany

Book Information
ISBN 9781032217062
Author Cristina Calarasanu
Format Paperback
Page Count 214
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 940g