The Inner World of Trauma
“In dreams, the regressed part of the personality is represented as a vulnerable, young child or animal-self who remains shamefully hidden. This “innocent” remainder of the whole self seems to represent a core of the individual’s imperishable personal spirit—to ancient Egyptians the “Ba-soul,” or Alchemy, the winged animating spirit of the transformation process, Hermes/Mecurius. It is that which Winnicott referred to as the True Self and Carl Jung called the transpersonal Self. Violation of this inner core of the personality is unthinkable. The progressed part of the personality is represented in dreams by a powerful benevolent or malevolent great being who protects or persecutes its vulnerable partner, keeping it imprisoned within. Often the “care taking” figure is daimonic and terrifying to the dream-ego. This SelfCare system performs the self-regulatory and inner/outer mediational functions that, under normal conditions, are performed by what would be the person’s healthy ego. Once this trauma defense is organized, all relations with the outer world are “screened” by the self-care system. What was intended to be a defense against further trauma becomes a major resistance to all unguarded spontaneous expressions of Self in the world.In cases where the inner world can be made less persecutory (therapy), archetypal fantasy can take over (enchantment). A rich inner world will develop, and access to that positive side of the Self (inner child) and its numinous energies can support a fragile ego, albeit still defensively. If a safe intermediate “play” space can be found, and if the sanctum originalis can be re-contacted in metaphor and symbol, rebuilding can begin. This archetypal system is the remaking of the “self-care system,” which is still a defensive organization keeping the Self from being wholly embodied. This middle way (Hermes) serves as an acceptable space for ego-mediation with the unconscious by a positive transitional object (therapist), and thus grounds can be laid for future individuation."
Excerpt from The Inner World of Trauma by Donald Kalsched
Books mentioned:
The Inner World of Trauma by Donald Kalsched
