The inner world of trauma cover

The inner world of trauma

by Donald Kalsched

The 'rediscovery' of childhood physical and sexual abuse has again revived psychiatric interest in disorders which arise from traumatic experience. In The Inner World of Trauma Donald Kalsched explores the interior world of dream and fantasy images encountered in therapy in people who have suffered unbearable life experiences. In order to examine the inner world, the author focuses on certain archaic and typical dream-images which occur in response to critical moments in therapy. He shows how, in an ironical twist of psychical life, the very images which are generated to defend the self can become malevolent and destructive, resulting in further trauma for the person. Why and how this happens are the questions the book sets out to answer.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?