Trauma

Course Description

 

After fifty years, John Van Eenwyk has retired from practice as an Episcopal priest, Jungian analyst, clinical psychologist, and founder and Clinical Director of the International Trauma Treatment Program. He continues to teach here at Jung Platform.  

For twenty-five years he traveled to conflict areas- Gaza, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Uganda, Croatia, South Africa, Zimbabwe – to help establish trauma treatment programs for people who were survivors of organized violence (fomented by governments and paramilitary groups). He collaborated with local practitioners in developing indigenously-based trauma treatment protocols. That, of course, is classically Jungian, for analysts collaborate with patients to discern and enhance their own unconscious adaptations to psychological assaults, particularly trauma.

He documented that approach in his book Clinical Chaos: The Strange Attractors of Childhood Trauma, which Inner City Books called: “the most important contribution to the logistics of trauma ever written from a Jungian perspective.”

Now Dr. Van Eenwyk will share his insights in this four-part series on Jung Platform. He will outline—and participants will discuss—how one’s unconscious responds and attempts to heal trauma.

His presentations will focus on the following questions: How do I know I’ve been traumatized? How does the unconscious attempt to heal trauma? Is a symbolic approach useful for understanding symptoms? How can we cooperate with the unconscious to heal trauma? What if all else fails?

This course is ideal if you want to:

• get a holistic picture of Trauma from an expert in the field
• understand the sequelae and meaning of trauma symptoms
• understand how the unconscious responds to and attempts to heal trauma
• explore your own relationship with trauma and traumatic experiences you may have had

Course Overview

Class 1: Introduction

Among other considerations, this opening class will focus on defining Trauma. We will delve into how it is both different from and consistent with other diagnoses. Van Eenwyk will elaborate on the DSM-V criteria for PTSD as well as discuss the three common sequelae of PTSD. 

Class 2: Childhood Trauma and Its Treatment

This class will address childhood trauma starting with the archetypal dynamics in early (0-5) childhood. Further, we will explore the conflicts with the developing ego that may occur in middle childhood and the conscious & unconscious interactions that occur throughout life as a result of a trauma. We will end the class with a very elementary neuroscientific explanation of PTSD. 

Class 3: Sexual Abuse and Trauma

In this class, Van Eenwyk will talk about sexual trauma. We will look at rape: how it differs from as well as replicates normal sexual relations. As well as the guilt that is often a normal physiological reaction during rape flashbacks. We will unpack the complex terrain of sexual molestation (curiosity as opposed to desire).  We will analyze sexual relations as a replacement for parent-child affection. And a child’s interest in anatomy rather than in sex.

Class 4: Therapeutic Interventions in the Sequelae of Trauma

In this last class, we will take a brief look at some important therapeutic approaches including the Jungian/Psychodynamic, “two-handed” calming practices, EMDR and Cognitive reprocessing. We will explore the role of personal experience and transference-countertransference in the treatment of trauma. 

We will get an idea of trauma symptoms and their meaning; including understanding unconscious antidotes to unconscious symptoms. Van Eenwyk will also touch upon the importance of educating the family and significant others of the person suffering.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• recognize symptoms of Trauma
• recognise how the unconscious responds and attempts to treat Trauma
• identify analytical Psychology’s contributions to the treatment of trauma (as well as some other approaches)
• reflect on your own traumatic experiences and healing process