Discussion of “Culturally Imposed Trauma: The Sleeping Dog Has Awakened. Will Psychoanalysis Take Heed?”: Commentary on the Paper by Dorothy Evans Holmes

Abstract

This commentary expands on the problem of culturally imposed trauma described by Dorothy Evans Holmes. The focus on cultural trauma is both timely and necessary. I applaud Holmes’s attention to this important issue, and her clear articulation of its effects on intrapsychic and interpersonal life and the reluctance of psychoanalysis to engage with cultural trauma. My commentary explores two primary areas in an effort to further elaborate this issue: (a) The problem of defining cultural trauma as a legitimate type of trauma, and recognizing resistance to cultural trauma in psychology and psychoanalysis, and (b) the role of cultural context and narrative in addressing cultural trauma within psychoanalytic work. I aim to extend the range of questions concerning race, culture, and social class that remains to be examined in psychoanalysis.

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Notes on contributors

Pratyusha Tummala-Narra

Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College. She is also in independent practice in Cambridge, MA. She has presented and published on the topics of immigration, trauma, cultural competence, and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is the Author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy, published by APA Books in January 2016.