Trauma, Dissociation, Schizophrenia, and the Split Mind of Professionals - Abstract
One original schizophrenia concept, created by Eugen Bleuler and Carl Gustav Jung, integrated the biological vulnerability and the trauma-induced complexes that are responsible for splitting, many practitioners in modern psychiatry have lost the human aspects of this diagnosis and its humanistic viewpoints. Although schizophrenia figures several diagnostic categories away from trauma-induced disorders in DSM-V some research strongly supports that trauma and dissociation is part of the pathogenesis of psychosis and dissociative symptoms may be very close to those of psychosis. By the outstanding approach of Judith Herman, the authors of this report analyze some aspects of the widespread neglect of traumas by professionals.
After describing the development of the concept of schizophrenia and a short review of the research on trauma and dissociation in schizophrenia, the authors describe their preliminary experiences of their innovative practice at Awakenings Foundation in Hungary. With community- and family- based care as a backdrop, Hearing Voices Self-Help Groups were implemented with the involvement of users and family members. It helps patients and families give sense to and catch the symbolic meaning of the psychotic experiences and move away from hopelessness – often generated also by current psychiatry – towards a meaningful way of recovery.
We typically find traumas and victimization of patients and also often family members are found which leads back to family history concealed by collective dissociation. Psychosis might appear as an inflammation which helps toxic abscesses (the forgotten trauma) open, which leads to purification and renewal, and to the catharsis of facing the past and the birth of a new family identity.