Approaches to Psychic Trauma

Bernd Huppertz, MD, is a physician, psychotherapist (child, adolescent, and adult), psychiatrist, neurologist, and former brain researcher. He has had a private practice in Germany since 1998. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, fellow of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine, and founder of the Institute for Comparative Psychotherapy. In 2002, he qualified to teach further education in psychiatry and psychotherapy (German Medical Association). He has widely published in the fields of psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and psychosomatic medicine, and is editor of Psychotherapy in the Wake of War: Discovering Multiple Psychoanalytic Traditions.

Approaches to Psychic Trauma: Theory and Practice covers the many developments in the relatively new field of trauma therapy. It examines the nature of the wide variety of treatments available for traumatized people, describing elements they have in common and those that are specific to each treatment. Originating with the editor's clinical experience working with patients from the former German Democratic Republic, contributors then discuss alternative therapies including ego psychology, self psychology, object-relations theory, attachment theory, psychoanalysis, and art therapies. Case studies further illustrate the application and practice.Approaches to Psychic Trauma presents a diversity of theories and tools centering on trauma and history, and through the microcosm of individual personalities one may have a close-up view of how historical events, as well as personal narratives and reactions to them, consciously and unconsciously affect the individual.

Part I: A General Introduction to the Nature of Trauma1. On the Development of the Concept of Trauma: Definition, Elements and Relevant TermsBernd Huppertz2. The Psychiatric Approach, the Subgroups of Posttraumatic Syndromes and the Neurobiology of Stress and TraumaBernd HuppertzPart II: Dimensions of Trauma3. Development and Trauma: Recapitulation of Traumatic Themes in Early InteractionLouise Newman4. Historical and Intergenerational Trauma: Radioactive Transmission of the Burdens of History - Destructive versus Creative TransmissionYolanda Gampel5. The Reality of Horror: Psychic Survival in the Face of Massive TraumaLouise Newman6. The Role of Cumulative Micro-trauma in Psychic Life: An Abridged Description of Injurious Relational FunctioningMargaret Crastnopol7. Building Resilience: The Example of Ambiguous LossPauline BossPart III: Social Psychological Aspects of the Totalitarian Communist System.8. Political Psychology, Effects of Historical Processes and Cultural TraumaBernd Huppertz9. Socio-Historical Overview of Germany: the Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (GFR) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR)Bernd Huppertz10. The False SelfAdrian Sutton11. Totalitarian and Post-Totalitarian Matrices: Reflective Citizens Facing Social-Psychic RetreatsMarina Mojovic12. A Post-Totalitarian Group: A Collective False Self or Post-Traumatic Growth?Helena KlimovaPart IV: Clinical MaterialBernd Huppertz13. Case History Summaries14. Mr. Q15. Mrs. U16. Mr. R17. Mrs. O18. Mrs. P19. Mrs. M20. Mrs. N21. Mrs. BPart V: Trauma Treatment Grounded in Psychodynamic-Psychoanalytic Approaches22. Challenges of Treatment with Traumatized Individuals from a Modern Freudian PerspectiveAnna Balas23. Trauma and Inner Reality: a Kleinian and Post-Kleinian PerspectiveMariângela Mendes de Almeida24. Trauma Treatment from the Winnicottian PerspectiveAdrian Sutton25. Theoretical and Clinical Implications of the Concept of the Zero Process: An Ego-Psychology PerspectiveJoseph Fernando26. Extreme Traumatization: Conceptualization and Treatment from the Perspective of Object-Relations and Modern ResearchSverre Varvin27. Contemporary Self Psychology and Its Treatment of Traumatized PatientsKoichi Togashi and Amanda Kottler28. Relational Psychoanalysis and Trauma: The Significance of Witnessing and ContainingAdrienne Harris29. Trauma Work via the Lens of Attachment Theory - "Gas Light": Reality Distortion by Familiar Attachment FiguresOrit Badouk EpsteinPart VI: Arts Therapies30. Mentalizing or "Meaning-Making" in Music Therapy with Traumatised ChildrenJacqueline Robarts31. Trauma Work in Play and Drama Therapy: The Importance of the Theatre of ResilienceSue JenningsPart VII: Other Trauma Treatment Approaches32. Mentalization and Its Role in Processing TraumaNicolas Lorenzini, Chloe Campbell and Peter Fonagy33. The Treatment of Trauma: The Neurosequential Model and "Take Two"Annette Jackson, Margarita Frederico, Allison Cox and Carly BlackPart VIII: Summary and OutlookChapter 34: ConclusionsBernd Huppertz