Resonance in the Dissociative Field: Examining the Therapist’s Internal Experience When a Patient Dissociates in Session

Abstract

This study employed a qualitative research design utilizing intensive interviews and written case accounts to examine the therapist’s internal experience when a patient with an early-life trauma history dissociates in session. Findings support emerging theory and research from the intersecting fields of relational psychoanalysis and interpersonal neurobiology that frame the internal experience of the therapist as a pathway for empathy and understanding. The findings suggest that the therapist’s willingness to enter into a patient’s dissociation in session and observe one’s own internal experience during the dissociation can promote states of resonance, attunement, and implicit knowing in the therapy dyad.

KEYWORDS:

• dissociative attunement
• dissociation in the therapy dyad
• neurobiology

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jacqueline R. Strait

Jacqueline R. Strait, DSW, is a clinical social worker in private practice in Philadelphia, PA. She teaches as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice.