Trauma and the Soul

Kalsched's is a fascinating review of the depth psychology literature on the process through which any personcan go after suffering major trauma from key caregivers or others - be it physical or sexual abuse or awful emotional deprivation.The author draws a vivid picture of the process that starts with original trauma - wherein the innocent 'inner child' or'original self' gets protected and covered over by a 'false self' that may be either very retreating or very aggressive,full of the defenses for which Freud is so famous for identifying. Unfortunately, these defenses, which work fairlywell to protect us from the original abusers, render one fairly dysfunctional in later, adult situations. (For instance,a child chilled into silence by demeaning parents will not stand up for himself in job or marriage, or a child turnedinto a rebel to protect his mother from a cruel father will end up having trouble with bosses and other maleauthority figures. Kalsched argues cogently, with Jung and against Freud, that this process from trauma through defense torecovery, is a spiritual process by which the 'soul' descends to Hell from which it is later rescued.In any case, he brilliantly explains how a later crisis, repeating the original trauma, can bring the client into psychotherapy,which can then provide the very protection the 'inner child' or 'true self' requires, making it possible for the unnaturalretreating or aggressive defenses that are now dysfunctional to stand down. When this occurs in good therapy, the therapist and client can together help that 'innocent child-self' that was so well hidden for so long emerge, and unite with the mature, adult self of theclient, permitting the kind of reintegration that leaves the person healthy and happy.While fairly dense at times, which slows down one's reading, this is a timely and major contribution to depth psychology,human development and psychotherapy, a fine 'how to' manual for those current or student-therapists who are brave enoughto focus on clients who have suffered deep trauma.

Through extended clinical vignettes, including therapeutic dialogue and dreams, he shows how depth psychotherapy with trauma’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 experience — 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 psyche’s defenses;* Dante’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 person’s spiritual life seen through the story of St. Exupéry’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 soul’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.

I was recommended the book, The Inner World of Trauma, also by Donald Kalsched, over 20 years ago by a Jungian Analyst. The book is so insightful and helped me understand what I went through and how it affected me. I read it many, many times and had underlines and writing on the sides of the paragraphs. Then one day I lost it and have been wanting to get another copy. But because of the price, I opted on getting this book instead. I must say, this is not a book I can race through. From the beginning through the first 54 pages, I realize Donald Kalsched, once again, is able to see someone like myself who split off because of severe trauma. I truly feel acknowledged and inspired to walk this new path of understanding what happened to my soul. As the first 54 pages, I have, for the first time in my life been able to visually (for myself, not everyone is visual) I was able to see visually what happened when the split(s) occurred, how they effected me. It was extremely powerful and helped me know what to do when I understood how it happened on a soul level.