Archetypes and the ‘Impoverished Genome’ argument: updates from evolutionary genetics

Throughout his career, Jung felt the psyche had ‘ancestral layers’ that contained elements of an individual’s species history, and clinical experience has shown that this idea can be an aid to psychological healing and emotional well-being. Thus, some later thinkers have attempted to link such theoretical constructs to the genome, as Jung had little knowledge of genetics in his day. But in the early 2000s, genome studies suggested that the genome might contain too little content to be capable of encoding symbolic information. This opinion gave rise to an oft-repeated ‘impoverished genome’ argument, i.e. that the genome could not provide a significant contribution to the collective unconscious, prompting theorists to propose other sources for it, or to argue that it doesn’t exist. Today, however, developments in evolutionary neurogenetics calls the impoverished genome argument into question for a number of independent reasons. These developments re-open the idea that the genome may be worth reconsidering as the biological substrate for the collective unconscious.     

Displacement as trauma and trauma as displacement in the experience of refugees

This paper investigates the relations between displacement, home, trauma and the self in the experience of refugees, which has become an issue of unexpected and far-reaching proportions in recent times. It questions to what extent and under what conditions displacement in the world may be traumatic and how trauma may be considered the effect of an inner displacement. Refugees’ lives are marked by forced migration that is related to a certain suffering due to the changes in their family, relational, social and cultural lives. The paper explores the extent to which these changes can represent a break so significant as to be traumatic. It outlines the way in which traumatic experiences can produce an inner displacement and reorganization of one’s mental life that leads to a focus on traumatic complexes. Under the most severe traumatic conditions, this can be understood as a displacement of the central axis of Self, in which the ego complex yields its position to other complexes, with a deep change in the organization and functioning of self. The experience of refugees highlights the way in which we live in a matrix of conscious and unconscious links between inner and outer worlds that need deeper and simultaneous consideration to understand their implications and mutual resonances for the psyche. Clinical cases of refugees will illustrate some aspects of these interconnections.     

Healing cultural trauma and its application to the Router programme

This paper explores the issue of cultural trauma, which is an area of concern in psychology generally and has emerged as one within the International Association for Analytical Psychology’s Router training programme. A summary of responses to the issues of cultural trauma and complexes (alongside cultural differences) within analytical psychology are presented, followed by an overview of findings from the IAAP’s evaluation of the Router training programme. These findings are then aligned with contemporary sociological research. The significant issues involved in healing cultural trauma seem to be ‘working through’, as well as the place of imagination, dreamwork, symbolism and metaphor. Research in Poland has specifically highlighted the importance of good governance, economic vitality, personal and social capital (as in education and social participation), a meaning system, certain external contingencies, channels of mobility and ritualism.     

When do trauma experts choose exposure therapy for PTSD patients? A controlled study of therapist and patient factors

To investigate when and why therapists opt for or rule out imaginal exposure (IE) for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 255 trauma experts were randomized to two conditions in which they were presented with four cases in which the patients' comorbidity and treatment preferences were manipulated. The results confirmed IE to be an underutilized approach, with the majority of professionals being undertrained in the technique. As predicted, the patient factors influenced the expert's choice of therapy: in case of a comorbid depression, IE was significantly less preferred than medication. Also, IE was significantly more likely to be offered when patients expressed a preference for trauma-focused treatment. The therapist factors were also found to be importantly related to treatment preferences, with high credibility in the technique being positively related to the therapists' preference for IE. Perceived barriers to IE, such as a fear of symptom exacerbation and dropout, were negatively related to the perceived suitability of the treatment when patients had suffered multiple traumas in childhood. The results are discussed in the light of clinical implications and the need of exposure training for trauma professionals.     

Parents, children, and trauma: Parent role perceptions and behaviors related to the 9/11 tragedy

The trauma associated with 9/11 affected and continues to influence children, families, and other groups of people. While research is cataloging the various coping difficulties experienced, few studies specifically address issues related to parenting perceptions and related activities or behaviors. We examined individuals employed in close proximity to Ground Zero and considered these individuals’ perspectives regarding their parenting perceptions and behaviors. In addition to capturing parenting subsequent to 9/11, the researchers also asked participants about their parenting beliefs and behaviors prior to and immediately after 9/11. Additional variables, such as directly viewing 9/11 and participating in the evacuation, parent age and gender, child age and gender, and ethnicity, were considered in light of parenting beliefs and practices. The retrospective questions, while not ideal methodologically, reveal that some parent characteristics and behaviors changed immediately following 9/11 and subsequently returned to pre-9/11 levels, others changed and remain altered, while others stayed relatively stable over time. Implications of this research for further study as well as mental health practice related to children and families are presented.     

Personality traits as predictors of trauma-related coping self-efficacy: A three-wave prospective study

Aim of the present three-wave study was to examine to what extent personality traits and general self-efficacy measured before exposure to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) prospectively predict coping self-efficacy (CSE) perceptions, and to test whether outcomes are biased by the timing of assessment of personality traits. The study was conducted within a large probability-based multi-wave representative internet panel in the Netherlands (N^total = 1154).ResultsFindings for both personality assessments (2009, 2011) were similar. Among respondents with low levels of PTSD-symptomatology, higher levels of emotional stability and agreeableness were associated with higher levels of CSE, while among those with relatively high levels of PTSD-symptomatology emotional stability alone was independently predictive of CSE. After adding personality traits to the model, general self-efficacy, demographic and event-related variables were not predictive of CSE, with the exception of time since the event for the high-symptoms group.ConclusionsEmotional stability most strongly and systematically predicts CSE following PTE’s, regardless of the moment it was assessed. Agreeableness is only predictive of CSE among those with low levels of PTSD-symptomatology. Timing of assessment of personality did not influence results. In sum the personality traits emotional stability and agreeableness provide (limited) information on CSE levels among adults following PTE’s.     

Attentional control as a prospective predictor of posttraumatic stress symptomatology

Attentional control may be used by trauma survivors to temporarily disengage and shift attention from threat salient information, allowing individuals to remain in, and habituate to, trauma-relevant contexts rather than using less adaptive regulatory strategies. Thus, greater attentional control abilities may be one factor that differentiates those who recover from trauma exposure from those who do not. In the present study, we examined attentional control as a prospective predictor of posttraumatic (PTS) symptoms over the course of two assessment sessions (T1 and T2). Consistent with the hypothesis that attentional control can be used to alleviate trauma-related distress, we predicted that an inverse relation between T1 attentional control and T2 PTS symptoms would be significantly stronger among participants who had experienced a traumatic event between time points (24% of the total sample: N = 85). Pre-T1 trauma history and T1 PTS symptoms served as covariates in regression analysis. Results revealed that T1 attentional control only predicted T2 PTS symptoms for participants who had experienced a traumatic event between time points. Thus, attentional control may be a protective factor against the development of PTS symptomatology in the aftermath of a traumatic event.     

Trauma‐Informed Care for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: An Avenue for Community Psychology's Involvement in Community Mental Health

Individuals with serious mental illness are at particularly high risk for trauma; however, service environments with which they interact may not always be trauma‐informed. While community mental health and other human services settings are moving toward trauma‐informed care (TIC) service delivery, a variety of TIC frameworks exist without consensus regarding operationalization, thereby leading to challenges in implementation. TIC is principle‐driven and presents substantial overlap with community psychology values and competencies, including ecological frameworks, second‐order change, empowerment, and citizen participation. One way to address barriers to TIC implementation is to draw on the strengths of the field of community psychology. With a particular emphasis on the applicability of TIC to individuals with serious mental illness, this paper identifies key implementation issues and recommends future directions for community psychologists in clarifying the service framework, its adaptation to specific service contexts, and improving delivery through consultation and evaluation. Community psychologists may work with various disciplines involved in the TIC field to together promote a more conscious, actionable shift in service delivery.     

‘Who is my Jung?’ The progressive,though sometimes ambivalent,expansion of Jung's idea of the collective unconscious: from an ‘unconscious humanity’ to – in all but name – the soul of the world

This paper discusses Jung's idea of myth as a projection of the collective unconscious, suggesting that the term ‘projection’ separates human beings from nature, withdrawing nature's life into humanity. Jung's discovery of a realm independent of consciousness – in conversations with his soul in The Red Book, and in synchronicity, began a dialogue which finally brought him, through the Alchemical Mercurius, closer to the idea of a world‐soul.