REGISTER | Ancestral Hauntings: The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma Study Group

Houston Psychoanalytic Society

Study Group

Ancestral Hauntings:

The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma

Facilitated by

Don Ross, MD & Cynthia Mulder, LCSW-S

6 Mondays

Jan. 8 - Feb 19, 2024

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM Central Time

Live via Zoom

*Pre-Registration required for Zoom invitation

The sessions will not be recorded

Registration Fees

Full Members: $180

Student Members: $120

Non-members: $210

9 CME/CEU/CE Credits

Instructional Level: Intermediate to Advanced

This study group will examine the phenomenon of transgenerational trauma, whereby parents with unresolved trauma unconsciously transmit it to their offspring. The affected individuals did not directly experience the traumatizing events, yet develop posttraumatic symptoms. We will explore seminal case studies about this phenomenon, beginning with “Ghosts in the Nursery” (1975), which describes Selma Fraiberg and her colleagues’ evocative and disturbing observations of interactions between traumatized parents and their infants. Transgenerational trauma can have lasting effects, based on Haydee Faimberg’s treatment of an adult, beautifully detailed in “The Telescoping of Generations” (1988). We will explore additional case studies and theoretical articles to discern the psychological means by which the trauma is transmitted and ways in which it is manifested. Recent groundbreaking findings indicate that biological factors also may play a role, such as possible epigenetic mechanisms reported by Rachel Yehuda and her fellow researchers in 2016. It is particularly challenging for psychotherapeutic clinicians to treat trauma that was never directly experienced or remembered by the affected individual. We will seek guidance from a classic article by Hans Loewald (1960), who describes the goal of turning “ghosts into ancestors,” and discuss other articles which expand on his ideas.

There will be 2 journal articles pre-circulated for each group meeting. The study group will be limited to 16 registrants in order to enable them to have ample opportunity to discuss the readings and share case material. Participants should have a good grasp of psychoanalytic theory and be willing to commit to completing the reading assignments and attending the study group regularly. We look forward to lively and engaging discussions!

OBJECTIVES

1a) Define intergenerational trauma.

1b) Explain the process of projective identification as a means of transmitting trauma, and describe how current conceptions differ from early Kleinian conceptions.

2a) Describe what is meant by Faimberg’s term “the telescoping of generations.”

2b) Describe clues that the patient may have transgenerational trauma.

3a) Describe how intergenerational trauma may impact agency, narrative, and sense of time.

3b) Explain what is meant by traumatic attachments and how they impact the analytic relationship.

4b) Describe how oxytocin levels are affected by intergenerational trauma.

4b) Describe 2 types of epigenetic changes that might occur with unresolved trauma, and how these may play a role in intergenerational transmission of trauma.

5a) Explain what Loewald meant by the phrase “from ghosts to ancestors.”

5b) Describe how a clinician might facilitate the evolution of ghosts to ancestors.

6a) Differentiate repression and dissociation.

6b) Explain several goals in treating transgenerational trauma.

Facilitators

Don Ross, MD, is currently in private practice in Austin, Texas after a distinguished career at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. For many years, he was the Medical Director and Senior Psychiatrist at The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt, a residential program designed on psychodynamic principles for patients struggling with complex problems. He also taught seminars and supervised psychotherapy for psychiatry residents in the University of Maryland-Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Training Program and the University of Texas-Austin Psychiatry Residency Program. He is a Supervising and Training Analyst on the faculty of the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute, where he continues to teach seminars and supervise candidates via Zoom. In recent years, he has taught seminars that bridge theory and practice from a variety of perspectives, including modern conflict theory, Kohut’s self-psychology, and the works of Hans Loewald and Leo Rangell. He has a longstanding interest in the interface of psychoanalysis with literature and film. He most recently co-authored a paper entitled, “The Environmental Crisis and the Film First Reformed: Paths to Paralysis and Change”, published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis (2022).

Cynthia Mulder, LCSW-S, is a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Houston, Texas. She is an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, faculty and secretary of the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, and past-president of the Houston Psychoanalytic Society. She earned a master’s degree from Smith College of Social Work in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 2005, she worked as a family therapist at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 2010 she joined the Menninger Clinic as an individual, group and family therapist. Ms. Mulder began facilitating Brené Brown’s curriculum on shame, vulnerability and authenticity - The Daring Way™ to patients at Menninger and training clinicians across the country. In 2013 she was appointed Menninger’s Director of Education and Training where she oversaw clinical training programs, directed the Social Work Fellowship, coordinated Family Education Day, and organized the clinic’s local and national continuing education activities. Ms. Mulder has presented nationally about shame resilience and suicide and has been an invited presenter at an American Psychoanalytic Association meeting. She was the recipient of two awards at Menninger: The Arthur Mandlebaum Award for Excellence in Social Work Education and the Jon G. Allen Distinguished Educator Award.

Schedule/Syllabus/References

Jan. 8: Ghosts in the Nursery

1) Fraiberg, S., Edelson, E. & Shapiro, V. (1975). Ghosts in the nursery: A psychoanalytic approach to the problems of impaired infant-mother relationships. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 14: 387-421.

2) Seligman, S. (1999). Integrating Kleinian theory and intersubjective infant research: Observing projective identification. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 9: 129-159.

Jan. 15: The Telescoping of Generations

1) Faimberg, H. (1988). The telescoping of generations—Genealogy of certain identifications. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 24: 99-117.

2) Kalb, M. (2015). Ghosts in the consulting room: Reluctant ancestors. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 51: 74-106.

Jan. 22: Psychological Mechanisms and Impact of Trauma Transmission

1) Gorden, C. (2011). Time is on my side: The intergenerational transmission of unmourned trauma and its impact on agency, narrative,1 and time. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 47: 364-385.

2) Brothers, D. (2014). Traumatic attachments: Intergenerational trauma, dissociation, and the analytic relationship. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 9: 3-15.

Jan. 29: Biological Mechanisms of Trauma Transmission

1) Kim, S. & Strathearn, L. (2017). Trauma, mothering, and intergenerational transmission: A synthesis of behavioral and oxytocin research. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 70: 200-223.

2) Yehuda, R. & Lehrner, A. (2018). Intergenerational transmission of trauma effects: Putative role of epigenetic mechanisms. World Psychiatry, 17: 243-257.

Feb. 12: From Ghosts to Ancestors

1) Loewald, H. W. (1960). On the therapeutic action of psycho-analysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41: 16-33.

2) Mitchell, S. A. (1998). From ghosts to ancestors: The psychoanalytic vision of Hans Loewald. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8: 825-855.

Feb. 19: From Ghosts to Ancestors (cont’d)

1) Cavalli, A. (2012). Transgenerational transmission of indigestible facts: From trauma, deadly ghosts and mental voids to meaning-making interpretations. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 57: 597-614.

2) Katz, G. (2015). Repressed ghosts and dissociated vampires in the enacted dimension of psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 84: 389-414.

SYLLABUS developed by JoAnn Ponder, PhD, HPS Program Chair

IMAGES: Mother and infant from Can Stock; shadowy figure climbing stairs also from Can Stock

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