On Traumatically Skewed Intersubjectivity

Maternal envy as legacy: Search for the unknown lost maternal object

The impact of intergenerational transmissions of trauma and the dissociative states of mind that cross from parents to their children has become an important expansion of psychoanalytic theory. Clinical material will be discussed showing how an early death of a mother haunted the lives of many generations of mothers and daughters. Considerations of attachment rupture, trauma, envy, deadly and deadening aggression and shame are discussed as part of transgenerational transmission phenomena and how they are worked on in the analytic relationship. Envious attacks, though painful to tolerate, nonetheless need to be processed in order to transform transmissions from the past.

When the Good Object is also a Thief: A Memoir of Adoption

This contemporary Kleinian memoir explores the possible existence of an intrapsychic, adoption-specific preoedipal triad including child, birth mother, and adoptive mother that can shape the emerging mind. As an intrapsychic construct, the adoption triad comes to exist in the infantile mind, requiring that adoptees contend with four additional part-object maternal representations: a villain (bad birth mother), a victim (good birth mother), a rescuer (good adoptive other), and a thief (bad adoptive mother). The psychic complexities of this possible adoption triad are explored, with an eye to how it might illuminate the psychosocial challenges experienced by some adoptees, including dysregulated behavior, rage, dissociation, and shame. To this end, Bion's ideas regarding presymbolic, nondefensive communication and Winnicott's understanding of use of the object are invoked. Expanding the preoedipal paradigm of adoption to include the possibility of an intrapsychic, adoption-specific maternal triad can enhance our understanding of the psychology of adoption, as well as highlight the need to consider the ways in which internal objects can exist simultaneously in both dyadic and triadic paradigms.

Children Are Born to Dance! Pediatric Medical Dance/Movement Therapy: The View from Integrative Pediatric Oncology

Children freely expressing themselves through spontaneous dance is a natural part of childhood. The healing powers of dance are universal in all cultures across history. Dance/movement therapy (DMT) in pediatric oncology is little known and underutilized. This article discusses DMT, specifically focusing on pediatric oncology. It defines and clarifies the difference between medical DMT as a psychotherapeutic modality aimed at addressing the patient’s psychosocial needs, and dance and therapeutic dance used recreationally to engage patients during their hospital visits. A literature review of DMT with medically ill children in the United States and worldwide is provided. It culminates with a focus on advancements in the field, discussing the future of pediatric medical DMT. Grounded in a biopsychosocial perspective, the intrinsically nonverbal and embodied nature of pediatric medical DMT is uniquely positioned to be a strong component of integrative oncology services. The use of DMT to synthesize potentially traumatic aspects of the medical experience is proposed. It ends with a call for research posing the question: Can pediatric medical DMT support the patient to express feelings while in cancer treatment within the context of a psychotherapeutic milieu, enabling the patient to create an embodied coherent narrative that fosters expressivity and empowerment?