Transgenerational Trauma Unfolded: A Qualitative Case Study of a Young Child’s Psychothera-py
Main Article Content
Abstract
This qualitative research study concerns the complexity of the concept of transgenerational trauma as unfolded in a child psychotherapy with a 3½-7 ys. old boy, referred for psychological assessment and treatment because of severe developmental delay, prolonged separation protests and oppositional behaviour. A systematic inductive-deductive qualitative analysis of the therapist’s detailed notes of therapy sessions was carried out. This yielded four intertwined sources of anxiety in mind of the young child, together blocking his mental-emotional development: 1) Introjective identification with parental trauma and loss. 2) His own traumatic anxiety left by a dog attack and an episode of stone-throwing. 3) Precocious awareness of social discrimination. 4) Age-appropriate, but undigested developmental phantasy and related anxiety, conflict, and defense. In conclusion, this study elucidates the complexity of second generation experience, even in young children, when considered in the psychosocial context of growing up. We know that severe retardation of early development may have lasting consequences for the child’s further personality development and cognitive abilities. It is therefore vital that psychological and medical practitioners working with massively traumatised parents are aware of the complex relationships between parental anxiety and their young children’s development of attachment and related separation-individuation.
Keywords:
Qualitative case research, transgenerational trauma, dog attack, early separation-individuation, psychogenic retardation, developmental delay
Article Details
How to Cite
GRÜNBAUM, Liselotte.
Transgenerational Trauma Unfolded: A Qualitative Case Study of a Young Child’s Psychothera-py.
Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 12, dec. 2023.
ISSN 2375-1924.
Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/4775>. Date accessed: 16 may 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i12.4775.
Section
Case Reports
The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.
References
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27. Klein, M. (1959). Our adult world and its roots in infancy. Human relations, 12(4), 291-303.
28. Bion, W.R. (1962a). A theory of thinking. In E.B. Spillius (ed.). Melanie Klein Today: Developments in theory and practice. Volume 1: Mainly Theory (pp. 178-186). Routledge 1988.
29. Simion, F., Di Giorgio, E., Leo, I., & Bardi, L. (2011). The processing of social stimuli in early infancy: from faces to biological motion perception. Progress in brain research,189, 173-193.
30. Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., & Jurist, E. L. (Eds.). (2018). Affect regulation, mentalization and the development of the self. Routledge.
31. Davids, F.M. (2011). Internal Racism – A Psychoanalytic Approach to Race and Difference. Red Globe Press.
32. Rossman, B.B.R., Bingham, R.D., & Emde, R.N. (1997). Symptomatology and Adaptive functioning for children exposed to normative stressors, dog attack and parental violence. Journal American Academy Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(8), 1089-1097
33. Bion, W.R. (1962b). Learning from Experience. Karnac 1991.
34. Blatt, S.J. & Luyten, P. (2009). A structural-developmental psychodynamic approach to psychopathology: Two polarities of experience across the life span. In Development and Psychopathology 21(3), 793-814.
35. Klein, M. (1930a). The importance of symbol-formation in the development of the ego. In: Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 219-232). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
36. Klein, M. (1930b). A contribution to the theory of intellectual inhibition. Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 236-247). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
37. Segal, H. (1957). Notes on symbol formation. The Work of Hanna Segal. A Kleinian Approach to Clinical Practice: delusion and artistic creativity & other psycho-analytic essays (pp. 49-65). Karnac, 1986.
38. Grünbaum, L. (2012). The post-traumatic nightmare: the via regia to unconscious integration? In A. Gautier & A.S. Scalmati, Bearing Witness (pp. 65-89). Routledge 2018.
39. John Keats (31.10. 1795-23.2.1821). https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stanzas-in-a-drear-nighted-december/ 07-08-2021.
2. Gabbard, G.O., (2000): Disguise or consent: Problems and recommendations concerning the publication and presentation of clinical material. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 81(6), 1071-1086.
3. Meltzer, D., (1967). The psycho-analytical process. Pertshire: Clunie Press, 1979
4. Meltzer, D., (1976). Temperature and Distance as technical dimensions of interpretation. In: A. Hahn (ed.): Sincerity and other works. Collected papers of Donald Meltzer (pp. 374-386). London: Karnac, 2005.
5. Creaser, M. (2019). A comparison of process notes and audio recordings in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In: Ma. Rustin & Mi. Rustin (Eds.). New Discoveries in Child Psychotherapy: Findings from Qualitative Research (pp. 198-221). Routledge.
6. McLeod, J., (2001): Qualitative Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Second edition. Los Angeles-London-New Delhi-Singapore-Washington DC: SAGE Publications. 2011.
7. Smith, J.A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M., (2009): Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis- Theory, Method, and Research. London: Sage Publications, 2010.
8. Brinkmann, S. & Tanggaard, L. (2020). Kvalitative Metoder – En Grundbog (Qualitative Methods – A Textbook) (pp. 15-29 & 657-670). Hans Reitzel’s Forlag, DK.
9. Grünbaum, L. (2019). Breaks and sibling figures in child psychotherapy. In Ma. Rustin & Mi. Rustin (eds.): New Discoveries in Child Psychotherapy: Findings from Qualitative Research (pp. 198-221). The Tavistock Clinic Series. UK: Routledge
10. Hinshelwood, R.D. (1991a): Psychodynamic formulation in assessment for psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 8(2), 166-174.
11. Hinshelwood, R.D. (2010): Psychoanalytic Research: is clinical material any use? Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, 24(4), 362-379.
12. Burnes, B. (2004). Kurt Lewin and complexity theories: back to the future? Journal of Change Management, 4(4) 309-325.
13. Lewin, K. (1947). Frontiers in Group Dynamics: Concept, Method and Reality in Social Science; Social Equilibria and Social Change. Human Relations 1(5). online version: http://hum.sagepub.com/content/1/1/5.
14. Bick, E. (1967). The experience of the skin in early object-relations. In E.B Spillius (ed.). Melanie Klein Today: Developments in theory and practice. Volume 1: Mainly Theory (pp. 187-191). Routledge 1988.
15. Klein, M. (1921). The development of a child. In: Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 1-53). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis 1975.
16. Gampel, Y. (2013). Some reflections on transference and countertransference. The effects of social political violence in children, in the analyst, and in the psychoanalytic process. In R. Oelsner (ed.). Transference and Countertransference Today (pp. 150-176). Routledge.
17. Freud, S. (1919). The uncanny. Standard Edition, 17: 21-25. Hogarth Press, 1955.
18. Klein, M. (1930a). The importance of symbol-formation in the development of the ego. In: Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 219-232). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
19. Klein, M. (1930b). A contribution to the theory of intellectual inhibition. Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 236-247). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
20. Dalgaard, N. T. & Montgomery, E. (2017). The transgenerational transmission of refugee trauma: family functioning and children’s psychosocial adjustment. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 13(3), 289-301.
21. Grünbaum, L. & Mortensen, K.V. (2018). Psychodynamic Child and Adolescence Psychotherapy – Theories and Methods, (pp. 221-241). Karnac.
22. Melzac, S. (2009). Psychotherapeutic work with children and adolescents seeking refuge from political violence. In M. Lanyado & A. Horne (eds.). The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: psychoanalytic approaches (pp 381-405) (sec. ed.). London & New York: Routledge.
23. World Health Organisation (2018). Health of refugee and migrant children: technical guidance. ISBN 978 92 890 5379 2.
24. Fox, M. (2002). Finding a way through: From mindlessness to minding. In R.K. Papadopoulos (2002). Therapeutic Care for Refugees – No Place Like Home (103-120). Karnac.
25. Grünbaum, L. (2010). Survival and helplessness in empty space. In K.V. Mortensen & L. Grünbaum (eds.). Play and Power (pp. 69-94). Routledge 2018.
26. Pynoos, R.S., Steinberg, A.M., & Wraith, R., (1995). A developmental model of childhood traumatic stress. In D. Cichetti & D.J. Cohen (eds.). Developmental Psychopathology. Vol. 2: Risk, Disorder and Adaptation (pp. 154-174). Basic Books.
27. Klein, M. (1959). Our adult world and its roots in infancy. Human relations, 12(4), 291-303.
28. Bion, W.R. (1962a). A theory of thinking. In E.B. Spillius (ed.). Melanie Klein Today: Developments in theory and practice. Volume 1: Mainly Theory (pp. 178-186). Routledge 1988.
29. Simion, F., Di Giorgio, E., Leo, I., & Bardi, L. (2011). The processing of social stimuli in early infancy: from faces to biological motion perception. Progress in brain research,189, 173-193.
30. Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., & Jurist, E. L. (Eds.). (2018). Affect regulation, mentalization and the development of the self. Routledge.
31. Davids, F.M. (2011). Internal Racism – A Psychoanalytic Approach to Race and Difference. Red Globe Press.
32. Rossman, B.B.R., Bingham, R.D., & Emde, R.N. (1997). Symptomatology and Adaptive functioning for children exposed to normative stressors, dog attack and parental violence. Journal American Academy Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(8), 1089-1097
33. Bion, W.R. (1962b). Learning from Experience. Karnac 1991.
34. Blatt, S.J. & Luyten, P. (2009). A structural-developmental psychodynamic approach to psychopathology: Two polarities of experience across the life span. In Development and Psychopathology 21(3), 793-814.
35. Klein, M. (1930a). The importance of symbol-formation in the development of the ego. In: Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 219-232). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
36. Klein, M. (1930b). A contribution to the theory of intellectual inhibition. Love, Guilt and Reparation and Other Works 1921-1945 (pp. 236-247). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1975.
37. Segal, H. (1957). Notes on symbol formation. The Work of Hanna Segal. A Kleinian Approach to Clinical Practice: delusion and artistic creativity & other psycho-analytic essays (pp. 49-65). Karnac, 1986.
38. Grünbaum, L. (2012). The post-traumatic nightmare: the via regia to unconscious integration? In A. Gautier & A.S. Scalmati, Bearing Witness (pp. 65-89). Routledge 2018.
39. John Keats (31.10. 1795-23.2.1821). https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stanzas-in-a-drear-nighted-december/ 07-08-2021.