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Trauma and the Soul: A psycho-spiritual approach to human development and its interruption
In Trauma and the Soul , Donald Kalsched continues the exploration he began in his first book, The Inner World of Trauma (1996)―this time going further into the mystical or spiritual moments that often occur around the intimacies of psychoanalytic work. Through extended clinical vignettes, including therapeutic dialogue and dreams, he shows how depth psychotherapy with trauma’s survivors can open both analytic partners to "another world" of non-ordinary reality in which daimonic powers reside, both light and dark. This mytho-poetic world, he suggests, is not simply a defensive product of our struggle with the harsh realities of living as Freud suggested, but is an everlasting fact of human experience―a mystery that is often at the very center of the healing process, and yet at other times, strangely resists it. With these "two worlds" in focus, Kalsched explores a variety of themes as he builds, chapter by chapter, an integrated psycho-spiritual approach to trauma and its treatment This is a book that restores the mystery to psychoanalytic work. It tells stories of ordinary patients and ordinary psychotherapists who, through working together, glimpse the reality of the human soul and the depth of the spirit, and are changed by the experience. Trauma and the Soul will be of particular interest to practicing psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, and expressive arts therapists, including those with a "spiritual" orientation. Donald Kalsched is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. He is the author of numerous articles in analytical psychology, and lectures widely on the subject of early trauma and its treatment. His books include The Inner World of Trauma (1996).
364 pages, Hardcover
First published November 11, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 2, 2014
As I read Donald Kalsched’s book Trauma and the Soul there were times I felt a deep resonance with my own recently published memoir. Kalsched’s analysis of dissociation with its need to save the split-off soul-child, his decisive stand around the spiritual core of what psychology names the unconscious, and his call which echoes that of C.G. Jung’s for a third world between the worlds of matter and spirit, a transcendent space, are masterfully delivered in this book.
From a theoretical perspective this author has left no stone unturned. His bibliography speaks volumes. Expounding upon the salient developments in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Kalsched’s analysis includes the thinking of William James, Freud, Jung, Klein, Winnicott, Kohut, Grotstein, and Schore; a list that does not begin to do justice to his interpretations of innumerable contributors to this ever-changing theoretical landscape.
A man of intelligence, compassion, and depth, Kalsched writes, “the soul needs a story, a resonant image that is adequate to its own biography.” In his book he tells stories, he tells his patients’ stories (and for the most part they are women), the story of The Little Prince and of Dante’s journey into the Inferno.
Though I highly recommend this book, particularly for those in the field of depth psychology, but also for victims of trauma in search of recovery, I would add that to my mind Trauma and the Soul offers “a psycho-spiritual approach to human development and its interruption” that reflects the profoundly rational masculine influence of Western thought on psychology.
The cover leaves us with an image. “Blake’s good and evil angels struggling for the possession of a child.” The evil angel is black. The good angel and child are white. All are male.
October 30, 2014
Kalsched has produced an absolute masterpiece which I would highly recommend to any of you fascinated with psychology, spirituality and/or the resolution of trauma. Kalshed weaves together insights based on his training as a Jungian analyst, his deep understanding of object relations psychology and his familiarity with recent developments in neuroscience and body psychotherapies. He then relates beautifully narrated tales of healing from his therapy practice, weaving these together with classical works of fiction, mythological stories, fairy tales and other works of literature to illustrate a powerful conceptual understanding of the impact of trauma on our very essense. This essence is what Jung refers to as the Self and what Kalshed unabasedly refers to as the soul. This aspect of us, Kalsched proposes, holds a core of innocence and vitality which is disconnected from us during traumatic events, but preserved within our subconscious to be rediscovered at a later time, when we can process the traumatic events that were overwhelming at the time. This may sound simple, but Kalsched then illustrates the complex and potent forces that defend against this reintegration. Forces that he refers to as the "self care system", but can at times be perceived as demonic and persecutory. Kalsched's insights go a long way to explain how traditional psychotherapeutic techniques have failed so often to overcome these forces and why efforts to heal trauma can be so frustrating for the client and the therapist. I have found myself rethinking many of my own previous assumptions and thank Kalsched for this masterful work which I hope gains the broad audience it deserves.
September 24, 2022
A brave, profound, heart rending, gorgeous meditation on trauma and psychotherapy as the wellspring of spiritual birth.
The image of the shamanic mask with one eye closed and one eye open serves a touchstone, returned to over and over.
The image refers to the need to attend to our inner world (one eye closed) while concurrently attending to the other/outer/relational world (one eye open) in order to be in true sacred communion with another (I/THOU as opposed to I/IT).
The author asserts that this type of attending is the fundament of the psychotherapeutic relationship, which can be the crucible and flame that forges a soul from trauma.
The author illustrates all of this and more via lovely interpretations of cases, dreams, mythology and fairytales.
Stunning, sensitive, transformative read.
The image of the shamanic mask with one eye closed and one eye open serves a touchstone, returned to over and over.
The image refers to the need to attend to our inner world (one eye closed) while concurrently attending to the other/outer/relational world (one eye open) in order to be in true sacred communion with another (I/THOU as opposed to I/IT).
The author asserts that this type of attending is the fundament of the psychotherapeutic relationship, which can be the crucible and flame that forges a soul from trauma.
The author illustrates all of this and more via lovely interpretations of cases, dreams, mythology and fairytales.
Stunning, sensitive, transformative read.
June 12, 2019
"Sometimes defenses have survival value. Sometimes they keep us in Hell forever" (87).
Donald Kalsched's second book on trauma and healing from it is an astonishing gift from a psychoanalyst who has helped a great many people in therapy. He puts forth a way of thinking about and dealing with trauma that is compelling and mytho-poetic. His notion is that dissociation experienced in early childhood as a result of trauma is a defense mechanism. What is it trying to defend? The child's innocence and, when you get down to it, soul. This serves a great purpose at first, especially if there is no one around to scoop up the child and help her to integrate the trauma. If, however, the defense mechanism—what Kalsched calls the self-care system—is the only presence to protect the child, it can over time turn on her and prevent her from embracing her life, from adjusting to life's slings and arrows. In this case the trauma freezes her as she grows, ever-present even if she's unable to express it.
So how does one heal when this has happened? Kalsched points in two directions: active imagination and relationship. His case for active imagination is laid out through examples from his practice and also Carl Jung's experience in writing the Red Book, where he engaged the figures coming to him through fantasy and wrote down the resulting conversations and happenings. This kind of creativity can play a big role in healing from early trauma. In terms of relationship, Kalsched vouches for the healing power of a therapeutic relationship whereby the traumatized person harrows her own personal Hell with her psychotherapist, confronting the compacted defense mechanism and integrating the pain from her earlier trauma into experience so that she is able to live a more ensouled life. His primary example here is how Dante went through the Divine Comedy with the help of Virgil. A psychoanalyst can perform this role in a person's life and help her mourn the child within and see, through her brokenness, her own wholeness. "True to mythology the world over, and true to the human psyche," he writes, "the act of acknowledging one's own brokenness—the surrendering of all ego-pretense and the acceptance of one's own neediness—opens up deeper resources in the psyche/world" (300).
He writes of how a spiritual presence seems to appear in this kind of relationship between two people: "Behind the clash of opposites there seems to be something else 'waiting' for us to make a choice—or not. ... This transcendent Other ... only comes to presence when we choose it and this only seems possible in relationship. Making this choice somehow liberates us from the clash of opposites—for a mysterious 'third' that comes to presence both inwardly (in symbolic space) and outwardly (in transitional space)" (157). As a Jungian, Kalsched sees this mysterious presence as the Self, the powerful archetype at the center of one's being. Many times, in his experience, it emerges as an image or fantasy of a child (which will make immediate sense to anyone who's dipped the old toes in Jungian psychology), but it can also appear as an animal or some kind of guardian figure.
Kalsched comes across as a gentle and empathic expert on his subject, making the case studies he shares all the more intriguing and hopeful. There is a lot of good that comes of hearing how a series of people came to process their trauma and become themselves by greater degrees. The surprising way dreams punctuate and even guide revelations in the people he writes about is fascinating. He also incorporates and goes into dialogue with other experts, contemporary and from the past, who have wrestled with how to help people heal from terrible wounds. He is particularly salient when it comes to the way the body records trauma and how this relates to the psyche, the (trapped) soul, and the collective unconscious—providing a needed bridge between analytical psychology and contemporary psychologies.
One section of the book that really spoke to me was his analysis of The Little Prince and how the relationship between the Little Prince and the Fox is so very like a therapeutic relationship. The Fox teaches the Little Prince a lot about presence and how to love by showing him how to tame him. The loss when they part is painful and deepens both of them, the beauty of wheat fields imprinting upon them the significance of their love. Kalsched is particularly good on this: "depression is our inability to grieve for the loss of those we love. This emotional pain in the face of loss is disavowed. It breaks away from its original traumatic origin, is amplified by other pain, and becomes a defense against feeling ... [The] act of loving is a terrible risk for everyone, and especially for people who have grown up in emotionally impoverished environments. To really love someone ... is to risk losing them, precisely because we live in an insecure, unpredictable world in which death, separation, or abandonment is an ever-present reality" (99). So very true.
I know I shall return to this book again and again. It is a treasure and I thank Donald Kalsched for writing it.
Donald Kalsched's second book on trauma and healing from it is an astonishing gift from a psychoanalyst who has helped a great many people in therapy. He puts forth a way of thinking about and dealing with trauma that is compelling and mytho-poetic. His notion is that dissociation experienced in early childhood as a result of trauma is a defense mechanism. What is it trying to defend? The child's innocence and, when you get down to it, soul. This serves a great purpose at first, especially if there is no one around to scoop up the child and help her to integrate the trauma. If, however, the defense mechanism—what Kalsched calls the self-care system—is the only presence to protect the child, it can over time turn on her and prevent her from embracing her life, from adjusting to life's slings and arrows. In this case the trauma freezes her as she grows, ever-present even if she's unable to express it.
So how does one heal when this has happened? Kalsched points in two directions: active imagination and relationship. His case for active imagination is laid out through examples from his practice and also Carl Jung's experience in writing the Red Book, where he engaged the figures coming to him through fantasy and wrote down the resulting conversations and happenings. This kind of creativity can play a big role in healing from early trauma. In terms of relationship, Kalsched vouches for the healing power of a therapeutic relationship whereby the traumatized person harrows her own personal Hell with her psychotherapist, confronting the compacted defense mechanism and integrating the pain from her earlier trauma into experience so that she is able to live a more ensouled life. His primary example here is how Dante went through the Divine Comedy with the help of Virgil. A psychoanalyst can perform this role in a person's life and help her mourn the child within and see, through her brokenness, her own wholeness. "True to mythology the world over, and true to the human psyche," he writes, "the act of acknowledging one's own brokenness—the surrendering of all ego-pretense and the acceptance of one's own neediness—opens up deeper resources in the psyche/world" (300).
He writes of how a spiritual presence seems to appear in this kind of relationship between two people: "Behind the clash of opposites there seems to be something else 'waiting' for us to make a choice—or not. ... This transcendent Other ... only comes to presence when we choose it and this only seems possible in relationship. Making this choice somehow liberates us from the clash of opposites—for a mysterious 'third' that comes to presence both inwardly (in symbolic space) and outwardly (in transitional space)" (157). As a Jungian, Kalsched sees this mysterious presence as the Self, the powerful archetype at the center of one's being. Many times, in his experience, it emerges as an image or fantasy of a child (which will make immediate sense to anyone who's dipped the old toes in Jungian psychology), but it can also appear as an animal or some kind of guardian figure.
Kalsched comes across as a gentle and empathic expert on his subject, making the case studies he shares all the more intriguing and hopeful. There is a lot of good that comes of hearing how a series of people came to process their trauma and become themselves by greater degrees. The surprising way dreams punctuate and even guide revelations in the people he writes about is fascinating. He also incorporates and goes into dialogue with other experts, contemporary and from the past, who have wrestled with how to help people heal from terrible wounds. He is particularly salient when it comes to the way the body records trauma and how this relates to the psyche, the (trapped) soul, and the collective unconscious—providing a needed bridge between analytical psychology and contemporary psychologies.
One section of the book that really spoke to me was his analysis of The Little Prince and how the relationship between the Little Prince and the Fox is so very like a therapeutic relationship. The Fox teaches the Little Prince a lot about presence and how to love by showing him how to tame him. The loss when they part is painful and deepens both of them, the beauty of wheat fields imprinting upon them the significance of their love. Kalsched is particularly good on this: "depression is our inability to grieve for the loss of those we love. This emotional pain in the face of loss is disavowed. It breaks away from its original traumatic origin, is amplified by other pain, and becomes a defense against feeling ... [The] act of loving is a terrible risk for everyone, and especially for people who have grown up in emotionally impoverished environments. To really love someone ... is to risk losing them, precisely because we live in an insecure, unpredictable world in which death, separation, or abandonment is an ever-present reality" (99). So very true.
I know I shall return to this book again and again. It is a treasure and I thank Donald Kalsched for writing it.
January 20, 2022
I’d like to give ten stars to this book. The author is a sensitive and compassionate analyst, a brilliant theoretician, and an excellent, clear writer. This is a very important book in depth psychology, early relational trauma and its repair. I’m grateful that it was written and that I learned of it. Although it’s very expensive, as these specialized books tend to be, I will be purchasing a copy for my own library.
November 15, 2015
Incredible read. Jungian pshychoanalysis at its best.
Read in Russian translation, beware of some spoilexcerpts to follow:
...
Я бы сказал, что мое состояние ухудшалось и становилось отчаянным. Я заметил, как отводил глаза мой врач, как напряженно молчали мои родители, как у медсестер вдруг пропадал голос, когда они подходили ко мне. Моя больничная койка становилась смертным одром… Внезапно я ощутил себя плывущим по бескрайней бархатной тьме, абсолютно черной и комфортной. Я плыл и видел все вокруг, ликуя от свободы. Я изучил все пространство сферы, внутри которой оказался. Она была совершенной, за исключением малюсенького пятнышка прямо передо мной. Этот, так сказать, светло-голубой пиксель мешал полноте восприятия этой тьмы как прекрасной и успокаивающей. Это пятнышко раздражало меня и притягивало мое внимание. Я ощутил, что меня тянет к нему с огромной силой и скоростью. Свет нарастал. Я понял, что это было лучом, проходящим через портал, похожий на открытую сводчатую дверь. Свет был ярко-белым с голубоватым оттенком.
Внезапно я оказался внутри, прямо передо мной был источник света. Надо мной возвышалась фигура без шеи и конечностей, и ее тело было укрыто облакоподобным одеянием, простирающимся от головы, одеянием, которое ниспадало и становилось частью облакоподобного пола. Свет исходил из «его» глаз (хотя гендерные местоимения тут неуместны). Глаза были его единственной явной чертой, и я удивился, что без боли могу смотреть прямо в них. Я моментально наполнился чувством, что объят этим существом целиком: я понял, что кем или чем бы он ни был, он любил меня безмерно, как никто на земле не может любить. Я повернулся направо, на девяносто градусов; его глаза следовали за мной. Какая-то часть меня хотела видеть портал, через который я только что прибыл. Его уже там не было. Лишь слева за фигурой был небольшой шаровидный протуберанец, который я принял за куст. Как и все остальное, он был ярко-белого цвета с голубоватым оттенком.
«ТЫ…» Слово ворвалось в ме��я громовым раскатом. Что-то очень новое и освежающее пришло ко мне прямо из горнил творения. Оно заполнило меня всего. Я понял, что это слово просто возникло, а не было услышано мной. Это означало, что прекрасную часть меня можно было назвать лишь этим словом «ты». Я упивался полнотой смысла этого слова, мне передавалось его совершенство. Я был слит с этими глазами…
«МОЖЕШЬ…�� Снова открытие. Музыка начала времен. До сих пор я никогда не слышал ее, никогда не считал абсолютную свободу выбора самым истинным значением этого «можешь».
«ОСТАТЬСЯ…» Слоги этих слов внедрялись в мою голову. В каждом было обещание полного знания…
«…ИЛИ… ТЫ… МОЖЕШЬ… ВЕРНУТЬСЯ»
Образы моих родителей переполнили меня неописуемой скорбью. Печаль на пороге ухода нарастала во мне. Затем все поглотил гнев. Гнев был направлен на то место внутри моего черепа, где было кровотечение. Взрыв гнева, полного энергии и жара. Я знал, что именно я выбрал…
Я проснулся посреди ночи, и мне было лучше. Три дня спустя я вышел из больницы. Мой врач был поражен.
Позже (мне было всего семнадцать лет) я прочитал самоотчеты людей, имевших околосмертный опыт. Мне было знакомо то, что они видели. Я не любитель рисковать, но с того дня я больше не боялся смерти… И я никогда не забывал мгновения, пережитые мной на больничной койке, когда я был очень больным подростком в марте 1966 года.
В написанной позже статье в квакерском журнале г-н Белл размышляет о своем решении рассказать мне эту историю после той лекции.
Вообще-то я никогда не чувствовал себя так хорошо, как после того, как подошел к кафедре и поделился кое-чем личным. Тяжкий путь к кафедре доктора Калшеда привел меня к одному из самых освобождающих переживаний в моей жизни. Часть моей души, которую я прятал, смело вышла и заняла место под ярким солнцем в мире. Мир и глазом не моргнул. Самое важное, что в той духовной встрече я чувствовал, как нарастают интимнейшая безопасность и невыразимая любовь, становясь надежной и доступной частью моей персоны.
После разговора с Дональдом Калшедом я оказался слишком взволнован, чтобы уснуть, и пошел прогуляться по кампусу в Ливанской долине. Почти сразу я заметил, что шпиль часовни купался в ярко-белом свете с голубоватым оттенком. Я улыбнулся, зная, что уже бывал в таком месте, где давным-давно сияющий ангел зажег внутренний свет моей души.
...
И когда все вокруг человека затихает, становится торжественным, как ясная, звездная ночь, когда душа остается в одиночестве в целом мире, – тогда перед ней является не какое-то выдающееся человеческое существо, но сама вечная Сила, тогда небеса как бы раскрываются и «я» выбирает самое себя, или, точнее, получает самое себя. Тогда душа видит высшее, то, что не способен увидеть никакой смертный взор, она видит то, чего больше никогда не сможет забыть, – тогда личность получает рыцарское посвящение, которое облагораживает ее навеки. При этом человек вовсе не становится кем-то отличным от того, что он представлял собою прежде, но он становится собою; самосознание внезапно складывается воедино, и он уже стал собою.
(Kierkegaard, 1972: 181)
Этот прекрасный параграф отражает убежденность Кьеркегора, что человеческое я является синтезом конечного и бесконечного, временного и вечного, свободы и необходимости. Незнание этого приводит к своего рода «истерии духа» или «болезни к смерти», которая погружает человека в одномерную внешнюю жизнь (нарциссизм), ведущую в никуда.
...
Read in Russian translation, beware of some spoilexcerpts to follow:
...
Я бы сказал, что мое состояние ухудшалось и становилось отчаянным. Я заметил, как отводил глаза мой врач, как напряженно молчали мои родители, как у медсестер вдруг пропадал голос, когда они подходили ко мне. Моя больничная койка становилась смертным одром… Внезапно я ощутил себя плывущим по бескрайней бархатной тьме, абсолютно черной и комфортной. Я плыл и видел все вокруг, ликуя от свободы. Я изучил все пространство сферы, внутри которой оказался. Она была совершенной, за исключением малюсенького пятнышка прямо передо мной. Этот, так сказать, светло-голубой пиксель мешал полноте восприятия этой тьмы как прекрасной и успокаивающей. Это пятнышко раздражало меня и притягивало мое внимание. Я ощутил, что меня тянет к нему с огромной силой и скоростью. Свет нарастал. Я понял, что это было лучом, проходящим через портал, похожий на открытую сводчатую дверь. Свет был ярко-белым с голубоватым оттенком.
Внезапно я оказался внутри, прямо передо мной был источник света. Надо мной возвышалась фигура без шеи и конечностей, и ее тело было укрыто облакоподобным одеянием, простирающимся от головы, одеянием, которое ниспадало и становилось частью облакоподобного пола. Свет исходил из «его» глаз (хотя гендерные местоимения тут неуместны). Глаза были его единственной явной чертой, и я удивился, что без боли могу смотреть прямо в них. Я моментально наполнился чувством, что объят этим существом целиком: я понял, что кем или чем бы он ни был, он любил меня безмерно, как никто на земле не может любить. Я повернулся направо, на девяносто градусов; его глаза следовали за мной. Какая-то часть меня хотела видеть портал, через который я только что прибыл. Его уже там не было. Лишь слева за фигурой был небольшой шаровидный протуберанец, который я принял за куст. Как и все остальное, он был ярко-белого цвета с голубоватым оттенком.
«ТЫ…» Слово ворвалось в ме��я громовым раскатом. Что-то очень новое и освежающее пришло ко мне прямо из горнил творения. Оно заполнило меня всего. Я понял, что это слово просто возникло, а не было услышано мной. Это означало, что прекрасную часть меня можно было назвать лишь этим словом «ты». Я упивался полнотой смысла этого слова, мне передавалось его совершенство. Я был слит с этими глазами…
«МОЖЕШЬ…�� Снова открытие. Музыка начала времен. До сих пор я никогда не слышал ее, никогда не считал абсолютную свободу выбора самым истинным значением этого «можешь».
«ОСТАТЬСЯ…» Слоги этих слов внедрялись в мою голову. В каждом было обещание полного знания…
«…ИЛИ… ТЫ… МОЖЕШЬ… ВЕРНУТЬСЯ»
Образы моих родителей переполнили меня неописуемой скорбью. Печаль на пороге ухода нарастала во мне. Затем все поглотил гнев. Гнев был направлен на то место внутри моего черепа, где было кровотечение. Взрыв гнева, полного энергии и жара. Я знал, что именно я выбрал…
Я проснулся посреди ночи, и мне было лучше. Три дня спустя я вышел из больницы. Мой врач был поражен.
Позже (мне было всего семнадцать лет) я прочитал самоотчеты людей, имевших околосмертный опыт. Мне было знакомо то, что они видели. Я не любитель рисковать, но с того дня я больше не боялся смерти… И я никогда не забывал мгновения, пережитые мной на больничной койке, когда я был очень больным подростком в марте 1966 года.
В написанной позже статье в квакерском журнале г-н Белл размышляет о своем решении рассказать мне эту историю после той лекции.
Вообще-то я никогда не чувствовал себя так хорошо, как после того, как подошел к кафедре и поделился кое-чем личным. Тяжкий путь к кафедре доктора Калшеда привел меня к одному из самых освобождающих переживаний в моей жизни. Часть моей души, которую я прятал, смело вышла и заняла место под ярким солнцем в мире. Мир и глазом не моргнул. Самое важное, что в той духовной встрече я чувствовал, как нарастают интимнейшая безопасность и невыразимая любовь, становясь надежной и доступной частью моей персоны.
После разговора с Дональдом Калшедом я оказался слишком взволнован, чтобы уснуть, и пошел прогуляться по кампусу в Ливанской долине. Почти сразу я заметил, что шпиль часовни купался в ярко-белом свете с голубоватым оттенком. Я улыбнулся, зная, что уже бывал в таком месте, где давным-давно сияющий ангел зажег внутренний свет моей души.
...
И когда все вокруг человека затихает, становится торжественным, как ясная, звездная ночь, когда душа остается в одиночестве в целом мире, – тогда перед ней является не какое-то выдающееся человеческое существо, но сама вечная Сила, тогда небеса как бы раскрываются и «я» выбирает самое себя, или, точнее, получает самое себя. Тогда душа видит высшее, то, что не способен увидеть никакой смертный взор, она видит то, чего больше никогда не сможет забыть, – тогда личность получает рыцарское посвящение, которое облагораживает ее навеки. При этом человек вовсе не становится кем-то отличным от того, что он представлял собою прежде, но он становится собою; самосознание внезапно складывается воедино, и он уже стал собою.
(Kierkegaard, 1972: 181)
Этот прекрасный параграф отражает убежденность Кьеркегора, что человеческое я является синтезом конечного и бесконечного, временного и вечного, свободы и необходимости. Незнание этого приводит к своего рода «истерии духа» или «болезни к смерти», которая погружает человека в одномерную внешнюю жизнь (нарциссизм), ведущую в никуда.
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2020
prohibitively expensive. only available in hard copy. wrote the author an email about it and he replied with a rather snarky response. can't understand why you wouldn't want to facilitate more people reading a book, if the information is really intended to be helpful?
February 19, 2015
Lyrical and moving book combining Jungian and Object Relational approaches to spirituality and trauma.
April 24, 2017
One of the most amazing books I have ever read. Trauma & The Soul has fundamentally changed the way I think about myself, others and the human psyche.
September 5, 2022
A wonderful book! I will be rereading it again and again. Mining for gold takes time.
December 3, 2014
Profoundly rich exploration of trauma and dissociation that weaves Jungian thought with insights from classic psychoanalytic authors (Freud, Winnicott, Bion), as well as contemporary neuroscience (Siegel, Schore). In addition, Kalsched uses case material in dialogue with metaphor, literature and poetry in way that really makes the material come alive to me. His examination of Dante's Inferno and St. Exupery's Little Prince are especially poignant. When I read Kalsched, I know I am a Jungian.
August 19, 2016
Extraordinary work on the underworld of our psyche.
November 2, 2021
Absolutely sensational read. So insightful and engaging. So much wisdom. So much soul.
September 2, 2022
"Where men can’t live gods fare no better." So says the old man in The Road.
Do the gods exist outside man or inside man?
The orientational metaphor of inside/outside with it’s suggestion that ‘the real’ exists somewhere on the outside end of the continuum is important in Kalsched’s psycho-spiritual approach. He doesn’t get involved in theological discussions about the reality of the gods, about whether they exist outside. His interpretation of Jung is of a system of spiritual presences that are entirely internal, like the information within an acorn (to use a metaphor from Hillman). It’s all inside us.
Interestingly, I’ve just recently finished reading How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures by Robin Dunbar. Dunbar’s focus is very much on the communal, social aspects of spirituality and he ignores what seems very clear reading Kalsched, namely, how the individual experience of religion can help strengthen and preserve human beings.
Kalsched’s self-care system seems to be based on a New-Testament Christian model, with its innocent child at the core, and it’s loving god or goddess. It’s not a system based on the essential blood-thirsty violence at the heart of the world, such as we might see in Aztec religion. I felt that Kalsched’s view of the violent/dark end of the mytho-poetic was that it was generally considered problematic rather than healthy or positive, or even necessary. It wasn’t that his approach had a moral dimension, but that it was based on the ‘good news’ of the new testament; a loving god, forgiveness, new life, etc. I don’t mean this as a criticism, just an observation.
I haven’t read much Jung so I really appreciated the descriptions of Jung’s ideas. I especially liked the story of the boy Jung hiding a mannikin in a pencil box in his attic. And this mannikin representing for Jung a soul figure that he was protecting as he went into the outside world. I liked the correspondence between Jung’s first and second personalities, and Winnicott’s True and False selves, although I understand these ideas don’t overlap simplistically and cleanly.
One of the things I enjoy about Kalsched is his stress on the importance of affect and feeling. Jungians can get very involved with the image, to the extent that they can sometimes become quite abstract. Not so in this book.
Anyway, lots to enjoy and mull over.
Do the gods exist outside man or inside man?
The orientational metaphor of inside/outside with it’s suggestion that ‘the real’ exists somewhere on the outside end of the continuum is important in Kalsched’s psycho-spiritual approach. He doesn’t get involved in theological discussions about the reality of the gods, about whether they exist outside. His interpretation of Jung is of a system of spiritual presences that are entirely internal, like the information within an acorn (to use a metaphor from Hillman). It’s all inside us.
Interestingly, I’ve just recently finished reading How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures by Robin Dunbar. Dunbar’s focus is very much on the communal, social aspects of spirituality and he ignores what seems very clear reading Kalsched, namely, how the individual experience of religion can help strengthen and preserve human beings.
Kalsched’s self-care system seems to be based on a New-Testament Christian model, with its innocent child at the core, and it’s loving god or goddess. It’s not a system based on the essential blood-thirsty violence at the heart of the world, such as we might see in Aztec religion. I felt that Kalsched’s view of the violent/dark end of the mytho-poetic was that it was generally considered problematic rather than healthy or positive, or even necessary. It wasn’t that his approach had a moral dimension, but that it was based on the ‘good news’ of the new testament; a loving god, forgiveness, new life, etc. I don’t mean this as a criticism, just an observation.
I haven’t read much Jung so I really appreciated the descriptions of Jung’s ideas. I especially liked the story of the boy Jung hiding a mannikin in a pencil box in his attic. And this mannikin representing for Jung a soul figure that he was protecting as he went into the outside world. I liked the correspondence between Jung’s first and second personalities, and Winnicott’s True and False selves, although I understand these ideas don’t overlap simplistically and cleanly.
One of the things I enjoy about Kalsched is his stress on the importance of affect and feeling. Jungians can get very involved with the image, to the extent that they can sometimes become quite abstract. Not so in this book.
Anyway, lots to enjoy and mull over.
December 28, 2023
It took me 5 years to finish this book. Despite my valiant efforts, my appreciation for it is mediocre at best because my intellectual grasp of its depths is mediocre at best. Nevertheless, I am left with profound quotes and material, and a deep reverie for this huge undertaking by Kalsched - a true scholar and Jungian devotee. If I was a Jungian practicioner, this book would sit at my table always to reference and tap into its spirit for taking care of trusted souls. But I am not, and 5 years at my table is plenty and I’m grateful for how it has tendered my heart as I slowly slogged through this book, my own therapy, trauma and my soul..
December 31, 2018
This is the best book on Jungian psychoanalysis that I have read. Kalsched's understanding of the relationship between body, mind, and spirit gives spirit the essential place it deserves.
November 3, 2020
Absolutely fantastically- highly recommend. Really good review of Jung, psychology insight into shamanism, and spiritual work overall.
July 16, 2022
A thoughtful and technical book on the modern analytic application of Jungian depth psychology. While it may occasionally be too technical for the lay reader, I think its reliance on examples from therapy sessions and world literature grounds the ideas in a familiar symbolic language that anyone can grasp. The book is a gateway to understanding the psychological nuances, complexities, and narratives that underlie our existence. If you want a good look inside yourself, give the book a try.
October 14, 2022
4.5
翻譯實在可以再更好…然後分析榮格那裡（第八章）有點無聊，除此之外都很精彩，值得一讀，尤其對於解離這件事寫得非常深刻、很有感覺。
翻譯實在可以再更好…然後分析榮格那裡（第八章）有點無聊，除此之外都很精彩，值得一讀，尤其對於解離這件事寫得非常深刻、很有感覺。
October 20, 2022
3.5 stars
A book to wrestle with rather than one to inhale. Lots of insight, lots of frustrations. The last chapter was the very best one, so I was very glad I persevered.
A book to wrestle with rather than one to inhale. Lots of insight, lots of frustrations. The last chapter was the very best one, so I was very glad I persevered.
November 6, 2022
Must read for every survivor of early childhood trauma.
March 21, 2023
A beautiful mythopoeic and transpersonal lens on trauma. Has some serious racist, homophobic and sexist undertones, but that's unfortunately expected as it's written by a white straight dude.
April 17, 2023
THE best book (of several) I've read on trauma.
June 17, 2023
A superbly written and researched exploration on the nature, causes and life altering consequences of psychological trauma as understood primarily through the lens of depth psychology.
June 26, 2023
Worth every dime. This book and the books it referenced finally took me to therapy 37 years after childhood abuse.
I can't thank Donald enough. Buy it and read it.
I can't thank Donald enough. Buy it and read it.
August 26, 2023
An incredibly phenomenal read.
February 8, 2024
I’ll eventually come back and write a full review. I am very thankful for the lessons this book has provided of a Jungian view of trauma and the psyche’s response.
Well worth the read.
Well worth the read.
August 13, 2022
To be honest, I didn’t finish it, because I am a spiritual man and psychology to us is just one long, losing game of mumbo-jumbo.
But Kalshed adds to his Jungian training by saying that the early-trauma defense mechanisms can turn on the child in later life, and even cause them to act out violence.
Now, what protected me during my family violence was the Divine presence, and he is in no way archetypal; but indeed in adulthood has been a source of great suffering to me, and has arguably caused me to harm others inadvertently.
Again, what I’m talking about is not a psychological phenomenon, but a spiritual one; and any congruency between Kalshed’s cases and my life is likely coincidental, or at best allegorical; but it is nevertheless an interesting point.
But Kalshed adds to his Jungian training by saying that the early-trauma defense mechanisms can turn on the child in later life, and even cause them to act out violence.
Now, what protected me during my family violence was the Divine presence, and he is in no way archetypal; but indeed in adulthood has been a source of great suffering to me, and has arguably caused me to harm others inadvertently.
Again, what I’m talking about is not a psychological phenomenon, but a spiritual one; and any congruency between Kalshed’s cases and my life is likely coincidental, or at best allegorical; but it is nevertheless an interesting point.
March 12, 2016
Kalsched does a fascinating job of explicating how as a result of psychological trauma, the soul's protective system, in an effort to shield from further pain, brings about additional suffering. The individual's vital, animating core that ordinarily links us to the divine, to each other, and to the "exquisite beauties of the natural and cultural world" becomes cut off. The author shares many stories about how that which has been broken relationally must be repaired relationally. "This calls for affectively focused treatment."
September 23, 2014
Inspired and deeply helpful exploration of archetypal roots of trauma that helped me greatly in writing the trauma sections of "Love and the Mystery of Betrayal". The discussion of daimonic power of the perpetrator/victim looping is masterful and adds a thread of sanity when you are grappling with your own trauma imprinting.
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