At Home in Oneself: Self-States and the Treatment of Trauma

ABSTRACT

What does it mean to be at home in oneself? How is that sense created, lost, and restored? This paper explores psychoanalytic self-state theory and illustrates its application to the treatment of painful, dissociated states originating in childhood trauma, using a blend of psychoanalytic and somatic approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma
• self-states
• dissociation
• childhood
• psychoanalysis
• somatic
• mind-body

Acknowledgments

This paper was originally presented in September 2017 at the University of North Carolina Friday Center under the title, “Moving into Wholeness: Self-States and the Treatment of Trauma.” Conceived as a talk for early-career therapists, it is written in plain language and suitable for sharing with patients and family members.

Dedicated with love to my brother, Vincent Paul Barkley, and to the memory of our sister, Dawn.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Psychic trauma refers to an experience which has an emotionally unbearable quality. Psychic trauma has two ingredients: a difficult or life threatening event, and the lack of sensitive, human support. Because overwhelming experiences at any age may precipitate dissociation, the self-state model can be applied to people of all ages who experience psychic trauma.

² Although this paper does not address the treatment of DID, self-state theory would be a most helpful model for understanding that personality organization. (See psychoanalytic writings of Brenner, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2014; Chefetz & Bromberg, 2004; Kluft, 2000. Other excellent references for treating DID include Fisher, 2017; Steele et al., 2016; van der Hart et al., 2006).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heather Craige

Heather Craige, MSW, is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst and somatic experiencing practitioner working in Raleigh, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of North Carolina-Duke Psychoanalytic Institute, now the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas, serves as a training and supervising analyst.