I Am, You Are, We … Are … Us! Discussion of “Culturally Imposed Trauma: The Sleeping Dog Has Awakened: Will Psychoanalysis Take Heed?” by Dorothy Evans Holmes, Ph.D.

Abstract

Psychoanalysis is practiced in context. How relevant are our theories in addressing the psychological impact of disruptive, traumatizing effects of socio-cultural events? This is one of the many critical questions raised by Dr. Holmes in her very telling essay. Particularly on the question of race, Dr. Holmes outlines the shortcomings of our theories, but also challenges what she perceives as the reluctance of psychoanalytic training Institutes to address the traumas of race and racism. This discussion expands on Holmes’s position to wonder whether all psychoanalytic theories are equally remiss, and whether Institutes and psychoanalysts’ perceptions of, and responses to, social trauma are shaped by their particular theoretical orientation. Specifically, this discussion focuses on differences in orientation between Classical psychoanalysis and Interpersonal/Relational theories of mind. The author identifies Sullivan, Fromm, Ferenczi, and others as early psychiatrists and psychoanalysts for whom interpersonal and cultural contexts were central to their theories of human development.

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Notes on contributors

Cleonie White

Cleonie White, Ph.D., is a Fellow, Faculty member, and Supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology. She is an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and is a Supervisor on the Faculty of the Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. Dr. White is a member of the Editorial Board of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and is an Associate Board member of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Her interests and writing are in the areas of trauma and dissociation, race, class, the immigrant/foreigner Other, identity, and creativity in psychoanalysis. She maintains a private practice in New York City.