In this talk, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Judy Eekhoff offers a talk addressing psychotherapeutic work with adults impacted by early infantile trauma. These patients have early experiences that have never been articulated and therefore affect the patient in ways that are difficult to know about or describe in words. The speaker addresses how these patients present in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and how they might recover from their experiences in the context of the therapeutic relationship. Dr. Eekhoff draws on the work of Sandor Ferenczi and other classic psychoanalytic theorists.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the talk the participant will be able to:
Define infantile trauma and understand its long-term psychological implications
Identify the common clinical presentations of adult clients with early preverbal trauma
Apply core psychoanalytic concepts in working with clients who struggle to articulate their experience
Understand the significance of affective attunement and therapeutic presence in addressing early trauma
Reflect on the relevance of Ferenczi's contributions to contemporary psychotherapeutic work with traumatised clients