Lara loves chocolate. She wants to eat a piece that lies in front of her. But she will never take him — she is afraid. As a child, she was punished if she reached for something tasty. Lara has grown, but the fear has not gone away. It refers to the situations of the past, but acts in the present. However, Lara is unaware of this. She only knows that she can’t take a treat. This is how personality dissociation manifests itself.
Lara loves chocolate. She wants to eat a piece that lies in front of her. But she will never take him — she is afraid. As a child, she was punished if she reached for something delicious. Lara has grown, but the fear has not gone away. It refers to the situations of the past, but acts in the present. However, Lara is unaware of this. She only knows that she can’t take a treat. This is how personality dissociation manifests itself. The concept of dissociation plays a key role in understanding the mechanisms of psychic trauma. The traumatized personality is divided into unequal parts. Sometimes two (the one that supports life processes and creates the appearance of a “norm” for others, and the one that hides painful reactions generated by trauma). Sometimes there are more parts. One of the symptoms of trauma is a strange feeling, which patients describe as follows: “I am not living my life”, “I know that this is happening to me, but I don’t feel it.” The authors of the new book, psychologists from the Netherlands and the United States, look at various types of psychological trauma and talk about their work. The task of the therapist is to help the patient find the integrity of the personality. Thanks to her trust in the therapist, Lara dared to eat chocolate and was able to realize that it was her decision and that the feeling of pleasure also belonged to her.
Kogito-Center, 466 p.