Several weeks ago, I wrote two blogs on dissociation: On Being (One)self and Dissociation and Trauma. Both pieces described the process of dissociation on a spectrum of severity. Today’s blog, part one and three quarters, is meant to address a crucial difference in how dissociation is enlisted by our psyche, either as protective or […]
Category: Trauma
NINE YEARS AND COUNTING: Life after September 11.
That is how much time has passed. Nine years. To the day. Almost to the hour as I write this. You know what I am talking about. None of us can forget. Time has gone by, it has in fact, altered everything, and also left scars and open wounds. The smoke has cleared, the debris […]
TRAUMA AND DISSOCIATION.
Last week I wrote about the fact that our experience is discontinuous in nature. I also said that despite the fact that we experience ourselves as one, unitary being, we actually have many self-states or self configurations which help us along, are not always in our awareness, and are often dissociated. Then, a patient who read […]
ON BEING (ONE)SELF: The discontinuity of experience.
Modern psychoanalysis thinks of the self as having multiple states or narratives. Patients walk into our offices and present us with their story, but as analysts we know there are many stories to one self, and many experiential states to that self. Furthermore, we know, that depending on the day, event, mood, and situation, we […]
ON THE NATURE OF OBSESSION – And The Occupation Of Our Minds.
Years ago, during a weeklong yoga & meditation retreat for weary city dwellers, my teacher, Rodney Yee, told us the following story in an effort to help us focus and clear our minds. Two Buddhist monks complete their initial training and are ready to travel through the country to practice what they have learned. […]