Advances in neuroscience continue to expand our understanding of brain functions and responses during and after traumatic experiences. Memories of trauma are encoded primarily within the fight, flight, or freeze reflexive areas of the brain and play out in affect rather than cognition. This article provides an overview of recent neuroscientific research and uses this to explain the impact trauma has on both therapist and client when addressing trauma in psychotherapy.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenR. (2000). Biology and transactional analysis II: A status report on neurodevelopment, Transactional Analysis Journal, 30, 260–269.
BremmerJ. D., NarayanM., StaibL. H., LawrenceH., SouthwickS. M., McGlashanT. H., & CharneyD. S. (1999). Neural correlates of memories of childhood sexual abuse in women with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1787–1795.
5.
BremmerJ. D., RandallP. K., ScottT., BronenR., SeibylJ., SouthwickS., DelaneyR., McCarthyG., CharneyD., & InnisR. (1995). MRI-based measurement of hippocampal volume in patients with combatrelated posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 973–981.
6.
BremmerJ. D., RandallP. K., VermettenE., StaibL., BronenR., McCarthyG., InnisR., & CharneyD. (1997). Magnetic resonance imagining based measurement of hippocampal volume in posttraumatic stress disorder related childhood physical and sexual abuse: A preliminary report. Biological Psychiatry, 41, 23–32.
7.
BrockmanR. (1998). A map of the mind. Madison, CT: Psychosocial Press.
8.
BrombergP. (1998). Standing in the spaces: Essays on clinical process, trauma, and dissociation. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
9.
BrombergP. (2006). Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys. Mahwah, NJ: The Analytic Press.
10.
BucciW. (2007a). Dissociation from the perspective of multiple code theory, part I: Psychological roots and implication for psychoanalytic treatment. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 43, 165–184.
11.
BucciW. (2007b). Dissociation from the perspective of multiple code theory, part II: The spectrum of dissociative processes in the psychoanalytic relationship. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 43, 305–326.
12.
BucciW. (2007c). The role of bodily experience in emotional organization: New perspectives on the multiple code theory. In AndersonF. S. (Ed.), Bodies in treatment: The unspoken dimension (pp. 51–76). New York: The Analytic Press.
13.
ChefetzR. (2000). Affect dysregulation as a way of life. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 28(2), 289–303.
14.
CoatesS. W., & MooreM. S. (1997). The complexity of early trauma: Representation and transformation. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 17(3), 286–311.
15.
CornellW. F. (2003). Babies, brains, and bodies: Somatic foundations of the child ego state. In SillsC. & HargadenH. (Eds.), Ego states (Key concepts in transactional analysis: Contemporary views) (pp. 28–54). London: Worth Publishing.
16.
CornellW. F. (2007). Self in action: The bodily basis of self-organization. In AndersonF. S. (Ed.), Bodies in treatment: The unspoken dimension (pp. 29–50). New York: The Analytic Press.
17.
CornellW. F. (2008). “My body is unhappy”: Somatic foundations of script and script protocol. In CornellW. F., Explorations in transactional analysis: The Meech Lake papers (pp. 159–170). Pleasanton, California: TA Press.
18.
CornellW. F., & OlioK. A. (1992). Consequences of childhood bodily abuse: A clinical model for affective interventions. Transactional Analysis Journal, 22, 131–143.
19.
EdelmanG. M. (1989). The remembered present: A biological theory of consciousness. New York: Basic Books.
20.
EigenM. (1996). Psychic deadness. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
21.
EldredgeC., & ColeG. (2007). Learning from work with individuals with a history of trauma: Some thoughts on integrating body-oriented techniques and relational psychoanalysis. In AndersonF. S. (Ed.), Bodies in treatment: The unspoken dimension (pp. 79–102). New York: The Analytic Press.
22.
FonagyP., TargetM., GergelyG., & JuristE. (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. New York: Other Press.
23.
GouldingM. M., & GouldingR. L. (1979). Changing lives through redecision therapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
24.
GurvitzT., ShentonM., HokamaH., OhtaH., LaskoN., GilbertsonM., OrrS., KikinisR., JoleszF., McCarleyR., & PitmanR. (1998). Magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) study of hippocampal volume in chronic combat related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 40, 1091–1099.
25.
HowellE. (2005). The dissociative mind. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
26.
LaytonB., & KrikorianR. (2002). Memory mechanisms in posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 14(3), 1–8.
27.
LeDouxJ. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. New York: Touchstone.
28.
LeDouxJ. (1999). Psychoanalytic theory: Clues from the brain commentary by Joseph LeDoux. Neuro-Psychoanalysis, 1(I), 44–49.
29.
LeDouxJ. (2002). Synaptic self: How our brains become who we are. New York: Penguin Books.
30.
LyndH. M. (1958). On shame and the search for identity. New York: Harcourt Brace.
31.
NadelL., & JacobsW. J. (1998). Traumatic memory is special. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 154–157.
32.
OgdenP., MintonK., & PainC. (2006). Trauma and the body: A sensorimotor approach to psychotherapy. New York: Norton.
33.
PallyR. (1998). Emotional processing: The mind-body connection. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 79, 349.
34.
PankseppJ. (1998). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. New York: Oxford University Press.
35.
PincusD., FreemanW., & ModellA. (2007). A neurobiological model of perception: Considerations for transference. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 24(6), 623–640.
36.
PutnamF. (1992). Discussion: Are alter personalities fragments or figments?Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 12, 95–111.
37.
PutnamF. (1997). Dissociation in children and adolescents. New York: Guilford Press.
38.
SapolskyR. M. (1996). Why stress is bad for your brain. Science, 273, 749–750.
39.
ScaerR. (2007). The body bears the burden: Trauma, dissociation, and disease. New York: Routledge.
40.
SiegelD. (1999). The developing mind. New York: Guilford Press.
41.
SolmsM., & TurnbullO. (2002). The brain and the inner world: An introduction to the neuroscience of subjective experience. New York: Other Press.
42.
SternD. B. (2003). The fusions of horizons: Dissociation, enactment, and understanding. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 13(6), 848–873.
43.
StolorowR. (2007). Trauma and human existence: Autobiographical, psychoanalytic, and philosophical reflections. New York: The Analytic Press.
44.
van der KolkB. A. (1996). Dissociation and information processing in posttraumatic stress disorder. In van der KolkB. A., McFarlaneA., & WeisaethL. (Eds.), Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body and society (pp. 303–327). New York: Guilford Press.
45.
van der KolkB. A. (2004). The psychobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder. In PankseppJ. (Ed.), Textbook of biological psychiatry (pp. 318–348). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
46.
YovellY. (2000). From hysteria to posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychoanalysis and the neurobiology of traumatic memories. Neuro-Psychoanalysis, 2(2), 171–181.
