When it’s OK not to think: using the music of silence, sound and language to recover a live object for a child frozen into a ‘robot’ state of mind by trauma

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I examine my work with Richard using neuro-psychoanalytic concepts to depict the recovery of a live object that had been buried with his mother, three years before. I ask whether encouraging alpha function in a traumatised child who might once have had access to a functioning thinking mind may be damaging to a core protective aspect of his personality: a ‘robot’ mechanism that switches on in his mind/body, to protect him from a tragic sequence of events. I suggest that psychotherapy with a child in a frozen state is a delicate process, involving the avoidance of triggering defensive aspects of the personality, while helping the child learn other, more protective aspects available to him. I show how incorporating the ‘music of silence’ and the spoken word can help a traumatised child recover emotional fluency. I draw on the neurobiological research of Bessel Van der Kolk and Stephen Porges to show how working in the bodily countertransference can be important in helping traumatised patients. The analysis extends to examining child psychotherapy literature around endings, with a focus on avoiding retraumatisation when finishing work with a bereaved child.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma
• neurobiological
• silence
• music
• mind/body
• frozen
• body-based work
• speech impediment
• bodily transference
• bereavement
• alpha function

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sarah Harris

Sarah Harris is a Psychotherapist with children, young people, and families. She is a Visiting Lecturer at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists (TSP).