Somatic Perspectives on Psychotherapy interviews clinician’s and thinkers who take a somatic approach, such as using emerging ideas in neuroscience or evolutionary psychology to understand the nature of traumatic stress. This month’s interview with Eric Wolterstorff focuses on social trauma, which is defined as “the impacts of threats, disasters, deprivation and violent conflict on the capacity of societies to adapt to the world, regulate and nourish themselves, and develop” (SomaticPerspectives.com). Wolterstorff combines neuropsychology, traumatology, and family systems theory to understand how groups and societies deal with overwhelming events.
In the interview, Wolterstorff describes how various roles (Perpetrator, Victim, Savior) are both taken and projected in traumatic reenactments, including in psychotherapy. He also gives an interesting explanation of how the roles we identify with as individuals contribute to feeling overwhelmed, and shows how a similar phenomenon on a societal level contributes to splitting into disconnected, opposing groups. Very thought-provoking ideas, which Wolterstorff backs up with community involvement.
You can listen to the interview with Wolterstorff on social trauma or download a PDF transcript.
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