Constructed as a psychoanalytic diary, the authors of this book reflect on clinical observations from their work with patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, tracking these singular experiences to arrive at broader understanding of the psychological characteristics of collective trauma.
Based on the theoretical framework of their previous book, which focuses on the transgenerational, psychological effects of large-scale social-historical traumas and introduced new concepts such as the "Transgenerational Atmosphere," the authors here explore the trauma itself, especially those deep traumas which affect a large group of people or even the whole of humanity, including pandemics, natural disasters, terrorism, and war. In this volume, the authors progress toward the potential immediate and long-term psychological effects of such trauma, including the possibility of the activation of unprocessed transgenerational traumatic experiences, but also the potential for growth.
Rich in clinical material and methodological suggestions, this book will appeal to mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and social workers, in addition to professors in other academic disciplines such as sociology, history, philosophy, and anthropology.
Author(s): Tihamér Bakó, Katalin Zana
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 217
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Endorsements
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
References
Introduction
Structure of the book
References
PART I Psychoanalytic Diary of the COVID Crisis
The Context
February 2020
March/April 2020
Scapegoating
Maskers and Antimaskers
The Enabling Act
Mask and Shame
A Sense of Loss
Changing Settings
Unstable (Internet) Connection
Pets in the Therapy Space
9/11 and COVID-19 in Dreams
Therapist’s Experience: Snapshot of the Professional Community
The Spirit of War
Individual Crisis and COVID
Various Reports on the Concept of Lockdown
I Don’t Want to Hide: A Snapshot from a Non-therapy Relationship
The Therapist’s Loss and Grief
May/August 2020
Conspiracy Theories Abound
Temporary Relaxation, a Split in Reality
“I Wish It Were All Over and Done”
September/October 2020
Decisions
Virus and Projections
The Meanings of the Setting
Responsibly–Irresponsibly
Dreams and the Transgenerational Atmosphere
External and Internal Spaces in Dreams
The Positive Effect of COVID: A Snapshot from a Non-therapy Relationship
November/December 2020
Numbers on the Rise
A Fairytale but Not for Everyone
The External World Crystallizes in the Community of Psychoanalysts
The Therapists’ Own Experiences: Where Is the Wolf?
Online versus In Person
Fear of Exclusion
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Unprotected
Splitting Appears in Online Sessions and in Dreams
“People Don’t Respect Each Other Any More”: Social Snapshots
Different Attitudes: A Split in Reality
Dream from This Period
COVID and the Transgenerational Atmosphere
The Transgenerational Atmosphere in a Dream: The Therapist’s Own Experience
The Period before Christmas
Extremes
Acute Crisis during the Pandemic
The Therapist Changes Room
Events in Society: Vaccines and Projections
Isolation and Regression
Lost Time
Dreams from This Period
January/February 2021
The Period When the Vaccines Appear
Suspected COVID
“I Don’t Want to Exist at That Price”
Lockdown and Post-traumatic Working Through
Lockdown Dreams
The Therapist’s Own Experiences: The Vaccine
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
March/April 2021
The Third Wave
Eastern Vaccine, Western Vaccine
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
The Scapegoat
“You Can’t Make a Mistake”
“We’re Not Scared!”
Dream from This Period
Rituals Are Overturned
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
Late April/Early May 2021
A New Reopening Begins
This Vaccine or That One
Dreams from This Period
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
End of May/End of July 2021
“The COVID Bubble Has Burst”
The Therapist’s Own Experience: “Being Jolted Back”
Meeting In Person Once More
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
End of July 2021
Uncertainty
Has Fear Disappeared?
Snapshots from Non-therapy Relationships from This Period
Closing Image: How Will the Fireworks End?
References
Part II The Reality of Trauma, the Trauma of Reality
1 The Reality of Trauma
Psychological Effects of a Shocking Event: Possible Outcomes
Factors that Influence the Integrability of a Shocking Event
Does the Shocking Experience Become Traumatic?
Trauma
Trauma and Splitting
Trauma and Self
Trauma and Temporality
Can Lost Time Be Regained?
Trauma and Continuity
Trauma and Imagination
The Societal Aspect of Trauma
Society’s Containing Capacity and How It Can Be Damaged
The Healthy Social Container
Perversion of the Social Container
The Collapse of Humanness
The Witness Role and Its Perversion
The Silent Eyewitness
The Role of the Third
Postmemory
References
2 The Atmosphere
The Transgenerational Atmosphere
Post-trauma Intrasubjective Experiencing and Processing of the Event
Encapsulated Self-parts and Flash Experience
Encapsulated Self-parts in the Following Generation
The We-self
The Healthy We
The Pathological We
Traumatic Space-Time, the Damage to the Boundaries of the Self in the Transgenerational Atmosphere
Born into the Transgenerational Atmosphere: The Next Generation
What Is the Atmosphere?
Me and We, and Their Mutual Interaction in the Atmosphere
How the Atmosphere Works
Ideology, Nation, and Leader
The Intersubjective Background to Sharing of Experience
The Dynamic Model of the Self
Healthy Functioning of the Self
Interaction between the Me-self and the We-self
The Atmosphere and the Collective Unconscious
The Healthy Functioning of the Atmosphere
Transformation in the Atmosphere
The Dream of the Atmosphere
The Pre-symbolic Aspect of How the Atmosphere Works
Temporality and Continuity in the Atmosphere
The Trauma Victim and the Traumatizing Atmosphere
Transgenerational Atmosphere within the Atmosphere
Here-and-now or There-and-then
To Act or Not to Act?
References
3 The Trauma of Reality
On the Relationship between Outer and Inner Realities
We Reality
Healthy We Reality
Perversion of the We Reality: The Trauma of Reality
The Fragmentation of Reality
Summary
References
Index
