Hungry Ghosts

This essay recounts visitations by ancestral spirits whose presence was synchronous with the sudden onset of neuromuscular symptoms at two similar junctures in the author’s life. These spirits and their association with a complex of survivor’s guilt were revealed in dreams. Creative engagement of psyche and soma was possible thanks to an astute physical therapist, a former analyst who appeared in a dream, and the current analyst who correctly perceived the lifelong pattern. A ritual for the ancestors brought the recent striking episode to a meaningful conclusion. This essay models an approach to symptoms that allows their symbolic and psychodynamic dimensions to be discovered

Dream · Psyche · Psychic · Psychoanalysis · Psychodynamics · Psychotherapist · Soma · Medicine · Neurology and Historical Studies · Neuroscience · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments