Abstract
The paper seeks to elucidate the difficulties when it comes to appropriately conceptualizing traumatic phenomena. Different conceptualizations, models, and definitions are discussed. A second part is dealing with some clinical problems in the treatment of traumatized patients, as are the problems of reconstruction, historicization, and mental integration of traumatic memories. Neurobiologically an unprocessed trauma can be considered as an interrupted cortical consolidation process, whereby the memory of the traumatic events cannot be transferred into permanent, explicit memory. This is one of the reasons why many traumatized patients suffer from sudden intrusions of traumatic memories. It represents one of the most complex and difficult problems to overcome: While in the first time after traumatization intrusions can further mental integration and the discovery of meaning, they later can become disruptive and overwhelming. The emerging therapeutic narrative can help the patient to avoid relapsing into feeling completely passive and overwhelmed. In the last part of the paper, some specific strategies of interpretation will be described focusing on the irreparable break of the basic trust, the need to control relationships, and the restoring of the paralysed agency of the traumatized self.
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Bohleber, W. (2018). Trauma and Its Consequences for the Body and Mind. In: Charis, C., Panayiotou, G. (eds) Somatoform and Other Psychosomatic Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89360-0_6
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