trauma
trauma

In the shadow of the Bomb

Seventy years ago nuclear weapons were used for the first (and hopefully last) time in anger.  This event not only ushered in the nuclear age but also signalled the beginning of a new war, which some would argue continues until this day.  Of course, there’s a strong case for saying …

Time, history and the Holocaust

I’ve just been reading Lawrence Langer’s essay Memory’s Time: Chronology and Duration in Holocaust Testimonies  in which he makes a distinction between chronological and durational time.1  Chronological time presumes a ‘before, during and after’, whereas in durational time there is only now, and therefore there can be no sense of …

Memories of the Holocaust

This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by the Soviet Red Army and also many other camps, including Belsen and Dachau.  Although many of those who survived the horrors of their ordeal were able to rebuild their lives, which often included emigrating to …

Psychosis, meaning and therapy

There is a view in Lacanian circles that the best way to treat psychosis is to help the patient/client construct a structure of meaning, because the problem for psychotic subjects is precisely that they lack a stable structure of meaning.  Because of this they are continually having to construct and …

Trauma without end……?

In my previous post1 I wrote about the importance of (and problems with) boundaries in relation to trauma – both on the individual and social levels.  I argued that without boundaries it becomes very difficult to define the scope of a traumatic experience.  It also becomes difficult, if not impossible, …

War without end?

Today (4 August 2014) marks the centenary of the beginning of the Great War – or does it?  Actually, it marks the centenary of Britain’s declaration of war with Germany – Germany having declared war on France a day earlier.  And in just over four years time we will (presumably) …

The traumatisation of history

It may seem a strange idea to talk about the ‘traumatisation of history’; after all how can history itself be traumatised?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to speak of the history of trauma?  For a while this is what I thought, especially in relation to writing about the Great War.  …

Beyond meaning

Many people come into therapy because they have questions and they are looking for answers.  ‘Why do I feel so bad?’  ‘Why do I seem to keep repeating the same mistakes in my life?’  ‘Why do I keep going from one abusive relationship to another?’  ‘Why and how did it …