Meeting the orphan

Early relational trauma, synchronicity and the psychoid

Bibliographic Data

ID8983300
AuthorsLara Lagutina (0000-0002-2505-3411, London, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume66
Issue1
Pages5-27
Publication date2021-01-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Analytical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8774 • E-ISSN: 1465-5922
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-5922.12646
PMID33464584
OpenAlexW3124182845
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited30

In this paper I attempt to show how deep engagement, which is gradually developed within the relational container, can facilitate access to the psychoid dimension of the unconscious characterized by a quality of interconnectedness. The resulting synchronistic experiences can support and strengthen this container as well as having profound re-connecting impact on the people involved. With this in mind, I suggest that openness to this dimension can be very important in working with the issues of loss, abandonment, aloneness and mistrust in human connections - the symbolic domain of the orphan. Although none of the patients I describe in this paper were actual orphans, symbolically the orphan theme featured significantly in their processes, in that early relational trauma left them feeling profoundly alone and unable to trust human contact. For this reason, the most important yet difficult challenge of the work was to help them restore their sense of connectedness to themselves and to others. I consider the role of attunement and reverie as the basis for facilitating this openness and propose that such openness can be seen as a feature of the analytic attitude in its own right and that it constitutes a unique contribution of the Jungian approach to working with early trauma

Psychoanalysis · Synchronicity · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

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