The Dissociative Mind in Psychoanalysis: Understanding and Working With Trauma

by Elizabeth F. Howell (editor)

The Dissociative Mind in Psychoanalysis: Understanding and Working With Trauma is an invaluable and cutting edge resource providing the current theory, practice and research on trauma and dissociation within psychoanalysis.

Elizabeth Howell and Sheldon Itzkowitz bring together experts in the field of dissociation and psychoanalysis, providing a comprehensive and forward-looking overview of the current thinking on trauma and dissociation.

The volume contains articles on the history of concepts of trauma and dissociation, the linkage of complex trauma and dissociative problems in living, different modalities of treatment and theoretical approaches based on a new understanding of this linkage, as well as reviews of important new research. Overarching all of these is a clear explanation of how pathological dissociation is caused by trauma, and how this affects psychological organization -- concepts which have often been largely misunderstood.

This book will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists, trauma therapists, and students.　

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Psychoanalysis

296 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

About the author

A psychoanalyst and traumatologist who specializes in the treatment of dissociative disorders, Elizabeth Howell, Ph.D., is Associate Editor of the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation and Co-Director of the Dissociative Disorders Psychotherapy Training Program of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation. Dr. Howell is a faculty member of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies Trauma Studies Program and an adjunct associate professor in the psychology department of New York University. She has written and lectured widely on various aspects of trauma and dissociation. The author of The Dissociative Mind (Analytic Press, 2005), she has been awarded the Print Media Award for her work.

Reviews

[Nick B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. As a clinician whose graduate education involved remarkably little information on both psychoanalytic theory and dissociation, this book was an expansive and stimulating overview for me. The survey of the history of dissociation theory (and its denial) within the psychoanalytic tradition alone was worth the read. Highly recommend.

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute must-read, top experts offer clear and necessary updates to psychoanalytic theory and practice. This book is readable, enjoyable and deeply fascinating combatting outdated orthodoxy, incorporating current research showing the prevalence and severity of dissociative symptoms, new ways to help patients that help us understand the world and ourselves better too. Great work.