The inner world of trauma: archetypal defenses of the personal spirit

The inner world of trauma and its diabolical form -- Further clinical illustrations of the self-care system -- Freud and Jung's dialogue about trauma's inner world -- Jung's contributions to a theory of the self-care system -- Additional Jungian contributions -- Psychoanalytic theory about the self-care system -- Introduction to Part II: Fairy tales and the two-stage incarnation of the self -- Rapunzel and the self-care system -- Psyche and her daimon-lover -- Fitcher's bird and the dark side of the self -- Prince Lindworm and transformation of the daimonic through sacrifice and choice.;The 'rediscovery' of childhood physical and sexual abuse has again revived psychiatric interest in disorders which arise from traumatic experience. In The Inner World of Trauma Donald Kalsched explores the interior world of dream and fantasy images encountered in therapy in people who have suffered unbearable life experiences. In order to examine the inner world, the author focuses on certain archaic and typical dream-images which occur in response to critical moments in therapy. He shows how, in an ironical twist of psychical life, the very images which are generated to defend the self can become malevolent and destructive, resulting in further trauma for the person. Why and how this happens are the questions the book sets out to answer.