Survival of the survivors; containment for the uncontained

Video therapy can be a great help when seeing patients face to face is not possible, as has widely occurred due to the Covid-19 lockdown. We must unpack and fully understand video therapy as a type of practice, given that it is different from our standard mode of therapy. Through a specific clinical case, I will highlight a paradox of this type of therapy: namely, that the screen can act as an aid for the patient but an obstacle for the therapist. Specifically, its mediation can support emotionally coerced patients to express and contact their emotions better, whilst this same screen can act as an obstacle for the therapist who may struggle to contain the patient emotionally. The clinical case I will discuss is about Judy, a patient who suffered relational trauma from early childhood, with whom I struggled to contain emotionally in her first real connection with her feelings, which occurred through video therapy.

Przywiązanie, parentyfikacja i trauma relacyjna a status tożsamości w okresie wyłaniającej się dorosłości

Nowadays, it is young adults, not adolescents, who face the challenge of determining their own identity. This process, compared to previous generations, takes place in qualitatively different conditions. Moreover, the current attributes of an adult have become obsolete. For this reason, making the vision of oneself reality may be associated with various difficulties. The root of the failure to clarify identity is to be found in the original bond with the guardian and in all experiences that disrupt attachment. Among these types of experiences, relational trauma and parentification are worth mentioning. Relational trauma can be said to be when a child experiences repeated neglect in the context of a close relationship. A similar phenomenon is parentification.The aim of the research is to check 1) whether there are significant differences between the identified identity statuses and 2) whether the variables (attachment style, experience of parentification and relational trauma) differentiate the identity status in the period of emergingadulthood. Three identity statuses are distinguished: Identity of anxiety type (N = 23), identity of diffuse type (N = 30) and identity of type achieved (N = 43). Each type differs in terms of both the experiences and the severity of the identity dimensions.

Trauma, Social Work, and Psychodrama

The history and principles of trauma-informed practice in social work are presented while differentiating trauma-informed and trauma-focused practices. The practice of trauma-focused group therapy and trauma-focused psychodrama is outlined while acknowledging the recent calls for increased trauma content in graduate curriculums. Safety, play, and spontaneity are elevated as core elements in psychodrama’s effectiveness in working with trauma survivors. Psychodrama’s unique capacity for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is presented while outlining two trauma-focused psychodrama models—the Therapeutic Spiral Model and the Relational Trauma Repair Model.