This study group is based on a book authored by Carl Shubs, PhD, titled Traumatic Experiences of Normal Development: An Intersubjective, Object Relations Listening Perspective on Self, Attachment, Trauma, and Reality (Routledge, 2020). It describes a new conceptualization of trauma, so we can be better prepared to work with it. The book presents a psychoanalytic and attachment-based perspective on trauma entailing a reconstruction of object relations, an integration with relational and intersubjective approaches, and their intersection with a redefinition of trauma, as well as a recognition of how those experiences manifest in the body. It considers traumatic incidents of all kinds and examines how those experiences have roots in normal development and how they are significant factors in the development and persistence of such things as addictions, eating disorders, affairs/infidelities, relational patterns, and character structure. It addresses our understanding of anxiety, depression, crisis, trauma, and the relationships between present and past experiences. It also presents a frame of reference, a listening stance, which helps us to understand more deeply the roots of how individuals uniquely process the events that confront them and how we can be more effective in helping them.
This study group is conducted over 6 Mondays.