This study acknowledges the fact that compassionate witnesses working with traumatised clients suffer from secondary traumatisation. Weingarten (2000, 2001, 2003) and Figley (1995) are some of the authors on this subject. The study is based within the Zimbabwean context, which is going through a period of transition involving political and economic factors. Survivors of political violence seek assistance from counselling agencies like CONNECT and Mopane Trust. Mopane Trust chose to specialise in this work through counselling and research. This study explores how Mopane Trust trauma counsellors cope with secondary trauma. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

In this study a research is done on the pastoral counselling given to pre-adolescent secondary victims of trauma and crime in the age group (11-13 years). Certain concepts will be discussed which will be used as a framework for this study. The nature and effect of trauma on the pre-adolessent will be addressed pastoral-theologically. Theories that will be investigated as appropriate on the counselling of the pre-adolessent is narrative theory, Biblical counselling and Stone's crisis counselling. The manner in which assistance will be given through pastors and counsellors to the traumatised pre-adolescent will be investigated and discussed. The application of certain therapies like narrative therapy, children's drawings, and family drawings, children's drawings as projection-technique and children's drawings as diagnostic aid as well as the interpretation thereof will be explained according to a case study. The shortcomings of some of these approaches will be highlighted and application thereof will also be highlighted. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

Esta pesquisa trata do esquecimento do passado por refugiados africanos. As entrevistas foram recolhidas na Casa do Migrante, albergue que acolhe migrantes internos, imigrantes e refugiados recém-chegados em São Paulo. Foram entrevistados dois africanos: um angolano e outro congolês. Nosso objetivo de estudar o esquecimento emergiu nas entrevistas individuais e compartilhada entre estes refugiados, pois eles não queriam lembrar as cenas de guerra em África. Compreendemos o esquecimento, levantando a hipótese freudiana de que os refugiados querem esquecer o passado pois, ao tentarem dominar o golpe excessivo, repetem compulsivamente o trauma e a hipótese benjaminiana de que a dificuldade dos africanos em comunicar a experiência de guerra se deve ao declínio da narrativa e a experiência do choque após o avanço das forças produtivas. Porém, buscamos investigar se é possível elaborar o passado. Compreendemos as levas de refugiados ao redor do mundo como resultado da crise do capitalismo global, como nos mostrou Robert Kurz. Não se trata de povos obrigados a sair de sua pátria desde a antiga história religiosa da humanidade, tão pouco de vítimas de perseguição ou vítimas de violação dos direitos humanos, como concebe a Cáritas Arquidiocesana de São Paulo no atendimento aos refugiados. Analisamos as entrevistas a partir de três categorias de análise a fuga da guerra, a educação e o trabalho. Então, refletimos sobre o esquecimento dos refugiados africanos, partindo de um teor religioso para alcançar algumas considerações psicológicas. Mas o que resta aos psicanalistas diante de refugiados africanos? Concluímos o estudo, investigando a metodologia psicanalítica mais adequada para a pesquisa com africanos sobreviventes de guerra. E decidimos recolher seus sonhos traumáticos, segundo nossa hipótese de que eles pudessem sonhar à noite com aquilo que querem esquecer à luz do dia / This study is about the forgetting of the past by African refugees. The interviews were collected at Casa do Migrante hostel that offers shelter for migrants, immigrants and newcomers refugees in São Paulo. Two Africans were interviewed: an Angolan and a Congolese. Our aim of studying the forgetting emerged from the individual and shared interviews with these refugees, because they did not want to remember the scenes of war in Africa. We understand the forgetting, considering the freudian hypothesis that the refugees want to forget the past, as they compulsively repeat the trauma, when they try to dominate the excessive coup and considering the benjaminian hypothesis that the difficulty of Africans to communicate the war experience is due to the decline of narrative and the shock experience after the development of productive forces. Nevertheless, we try to investigate whether it is possible to work through the past. We understand the waves of refugees around the world as a result of the crisis of global capitalism, as Robert Kurz showed us. It is not about people obliged to leave home since the ancient religious history of mankind, or about victims of persecution or victims of human rights violation, as conceived by the Cáritas Arquidiocesana de São Paulo in the attendance of refugees. We analyze the interviews according to three categories of analysis the flight from war, education and work. So, we thought about the forgetting of African refugees, starting from a religious content to achieve some psychological considerations. But what does it remain for psychoanalysts in the presence of African refugees? We conclude the study, investigating the more suitable psychoanalytic methodology for the research with Africans war survivors. And we decide to collect their traumatic dreams, according to our hypothesis that they might dream at night with what they want to forget at day light

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar a dinâmica psíquica de crianças vítimas de uma enfermidade grave e a possibilidade de permitir maior mobilidade da dinâmica psíquica dessas crianças por meio da técnica lúdica e do trabalho de busca de representabilidade, a partir da premissa de que a enfermidade grave na infância é uma situação traumática dentre tantas outras possíveis. Delineamos, para tal entendimento, um percurso que se inicia nas primeiras inscrições psíquicas e na construção de representações e, em seguida, apresentamos a maneira como uma situação traumática pode fragilizar a mente. Enfatizamos a possibilidade de representação, mediante as intervenções psicanalíticas, partindo do princípio de que é por intermédio da condição simbólica que o indivíduo se desenvolve. Realizamos um estudo teórico-clínico de duas crianças que foram submetidas à operação para correção de cardiopatia congênita e, consequentemente, internação em unidade de terapia intensiva. O estudo consistiu de intervenções psicanalíticas que privilegiaram o oferecimento de um continente com rêverie, com uma proposta de acompanhar a criança no confronto com questões que fogem da esfera de representações, por intermédio do brincar, favorecendo a não paralisação e o não congelamento de sua rede simbólica e de significados. O Procedimento de Desenhos-estórias foi utilizado no início e final do processo como apoio para as intervenções e avaliações. Por meio das intervenções psicanalíticas, dos recursos teóricos-técnicos utilizados, observamos algumas modificações na linha de representação dos conflitos e um início de mudança na forma das crianças brincarem e se expressarem graficamente / This study aimed to investigate the psychological dynamics of child victims of a serious illness and possibility of allowing greater mobility of the psychological dynamics of these children through recreational technical and search representative from the premise that serious illness in childhood is a traumatic situation among many others possible. Outline for such an understanding, a journey that starts in the first registration and the construction of mental representations and then present how a traumatic situation may weaken the mind. We emphasize the possibility of representation by the psychoanalytic interventions, assuming that it is through the symbolic condition that the individual develops. We conducted a theoretical and clinical study of two children who underwent surgery for repair of congenital heart disease and, consequently, admission to the intensive care unit. The study consisted of psychoanalytic interventions which recommended the offer of a continent with reverie, with a proposal to accompany the child in confronting issues that are beyond the realm of representations, through the play, not favoring the strike and not freeze your symbolic condition. The Drawing-stories was used at the beginning and end of the process as support for interventions and evaluations. Through psychoanalytic interventions, theoretical-technical resources used, we observed some changes in the line representing the beginning of a conflict and change in the way children play and express themselves graphically

M.A. / Children are so often seen as unproductive, dependents that are vulnerable and not responsible for their own actions. Children are in fact individuals in the process of development that can learn to act in a responsible way and to manage their lives. Because children are in the process of development and change, it is a challenge for the therapist to meet the unique needs of the child. This study was developed as a response to a need under social workers for structure in the handling of children with adaptation problems. Social workers need more than just techniques that can be utilized with children in therapy. They also need guidelines on the best techniques to utilize in different phases of the process. This programme aimed at developing an integrated model for child therapy that can be utilized for children who have experienced trauma, who have difficulties adapting to new circumstances, who have behavioural problems or who are in need of personal skills. The Intervention Design and Development Model of Rothman and Thomas (1994) was utilized in the development of the new technological item. The different phases used in the development of the model for child therapy were the following: The problem analysis and planning phase, which included the planning of the study and the setting of goals for the study. The information gathering and synthesis phase, which included an investigation into the available sources for the development of new technology for child therapy. The first focus of the actions in this phase was to identify applicable sources that could be utilized to formulate a theoretical basis for the new technology. The theoretical basis served as a frame of reference to identify the most important aspects of a child that a therapy model should take into account. The next focus was to select existing interventions and technologies that could be used to formulate a practice model that would address the needed aspects of a child. The design phase, consisted of setting a preliminary product. The evaluation phase, which included the implementation of the pilot test and both the process and outcome evaluation. The aim of this phase was to test the programme and to see what can be done to improve on the results and to refine the final product. The implementation and dissemination phase which concluded the study by setting the final product ready for distribution. This product, a model for Functional child therapy, does not provide a recipe for child therapy, nor does it only help children to work through present traumas. The main focus of the model is to help children to become unique individuals within a world that is dominated and structured by adults. Children learn with this model not just to react on adult behaviour, but to become active, responsible role players in their own world.

The present study presents three individual cases; all three clients had endured a traumatic event, namely rape, and all three met the criteria for PTSD. Despite the fact that each of the clients was initially assessed as being a suitable candidate for psychological treatment, none of the cases proceeded to the therapy phase of treatment. A number of obstacles, both personal and contextual, were encountered during treatment implementation, preventing or limiting a successful outcome of psychological treatment in each case. An examination of these cases highlights a few of the many obstacles frequently faced when delivering psychological treatment to the South African context. In so doing, this research provides an opportunity to consider the possible reasons for the limited documentation of treatment efficacy within the South African context, as well as to enhance our understanding of and sensitivity towards the cultural and contextual factors playing a role in psychological treatment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological mechanism by which four intra- and inter-personal characteristics of an individual (anxious and avoidant adult attachment patterns, images of self, and religious faith) mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and each of three affect-behavior regulation problems in adulthood (symptoms of depression, disordered eating behaviors, and substance abuse). A total of 401 college student participants completed a packet of 18 surveys including 10 surveys used in the present study. Structural equation modeling was used to test each of three hypothesized structural models (Depression, Eating Disturbances, and Substance Abuse). A series of multi-group analyses conducted to test if each of three hypothesized models is invariant across gender indicated no significant difference between females and males. Thus, the data were combined across gender to test for mediated effects in each of three hypothesized models. The results indicated: (a) for the hypothesized model for depression, anxious attachment patterns, avoidant attachment patterns, and negative self-images, but not religious faith, fully mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and symptoms of depression; (b) for the model for eating disturbances, anxious attachment and negative images of self, but not avoidant attachment and religious faith, fully mediated the association between childhood trauma and disordered eating behaviors; and (3) for the mode for substance abuse, anxious attachment and poor religious faith, but not avoidant attachment and negative self-images, fully mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and substance abuse. The findings of the present study have noteworthy implications for treatment. When clients who suffer from symptoms of depression, disordered eating behaviors, and/or substance abuse report a history of repetitive abuse and neglect by primary caregivers in childhood, clinicians need to assist clients in: (a) understanding an association of childhood maltreatment with affect-behavior regulation problems; (b) being aware of an impact of abuse and neglect by attachment figures in childhood on negative mental representations of self, insecure attachment patterns in close relationship, and poor religious faith; and (c) most importantly, deepening an understanding of how their negative images of self, anxious and avoidant adult attachment patterns, and/or poor religious faith and practices, rather than parental abuse and neglect in childhood itself, directly predict their presenting symptoms of depression, disordered eating behaviors, and/or substance abuse problems. In doing so, it is crucial for clinicians to provide clients with secure and comforting therapeutic atmosphere, focus on building trusting working relationship with clients, and be aware of how clients' transference and clinicians' own counter-transference interact with each other and influence therapeutic process and effectiveness. Several important limitations of the present study and implications for future studies were discussed.

This dissertation utilizes insights from economics and child development science to examine how trauma transmits across generations from mother to child. The first chapter consists of a literature review in which I survey the existing literature across multiple disciplines on maternal trauma and the early childhood home environment. Specifically, I investigate psychosocial pathways through which maternal trauma may affect maternal capacities and investment decisions, particularly through a mother’s behavioral responses to trauma, and its consequential effects on the early childhood home environment for children. I identify methodological challenges to estimating the effects of maternal trauma on the early childhood home environment, and discuss policy implications and possible avenues for future research. In my second chapter, I take an intergenerational perspective and review research across disciplines to demonstrate that childhood trauma should be conceptualized as an intergenerational phenomenon that plays a role in the dynamics of inequality. In doing so, I develop a conceptual framework for studying how a mother’s childhood trauma affects her future capacities as a mother and the early developmental outcomes of the next generation. To understand how traumatic environments affect early childhood development, scholars previously have concentrated on two processes: (1) how early adversity and potentially traumatic experiences affect the immediate cognitive and socio-emotional development of children, and (2) the extent to which caregivers, and mothers in particular, can buffer against the potentially detrimental effects of these early experiences. These frameworks acknowledge the importance of environmental influences on both processes, parenting practices and early childhood development. However, they largely ignore the intergenerational dynamics of traumatic experiences, and the consequences of the mother’s own previous traumas on the early childhood home environment she shapes for her children. I focus on the mother as the primary caregiver in the early years of a child’s development, and examine behavioral mechanisms, and specifically parenting, as a potential pathway for the intergenerational transmission of a mother’s childhood trauma. I conclude by discussing future avenues for research and implications for public policy. Finally, in my third chapter, I present empirical evidence on the intergenerational effects of childhood trauma using the specific case of a mother’s childhood exposure to armed conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa. A mother’s nurturing care is a critical input to early development, particularly for children at elevated risk of early adversity. Little is known, however, about how a mother’s own childhood adversity affects her ability to provide such nurturing care. In this chapter, I use geo-located data on armed conflicts in three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa combined with geo- located household level data on parenting practices and early childhood development to estimate the intergenerational effects of a mother’s childhood exposure to armed conflict on her parent- ing practices and the early developmental outcomes of her children. Difference-in-differences estimates use identifying variation in geographic differences in exposure to conflict across sub- national regions and temporal variation across maternal birth cohorts. I find that mothers exposed to conflict in their early childhood are more likely to use abusive disciplinary practices. They are also less likely to stimulate their children through educational activities, material investments, or sending their children to early childhood education centers. These mothers are also more likely to experience intimate partner violence, and engage in early marriage and early sex, which may be mechanisms by which a mother’s childhood exposure to conflict affects her future maternal capacities and investments, and the early developmental outcomes of her children. Together, these essays advance our conceptual understanding of the potential long run and intergenerational effects of childhood trauma, and provide causal evidence on aspects of its inter- generational consequences in a specific context in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract This qualitative research explores creative movement processes such as dance/movement therapy (DMT), authentic movement (AM), and creative dance (CD) as possible tools for transforming sexual trauma for women. Eleven movement professionals were interviewed in a semi-structured research format. My direct experience and knowledge of sexual abuse, sexual trauma, and creative movement processes are interwoven with the research question: do creative dance/movement therapy processes contribute to the dynamic of healing for women transforming sexual trauma? These findings are inconclusive for the greater population of survivors of sexual abuse and sexual trauma. However, there are indications that DMT, AM, and CD may be potential tools for recovery. This research contributes to a dialogue about sexual abuse and recovery from sexual trauma.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts At the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg 2016 / This study explored the subjective experiences of a population who appear to be at relatively high risk of potential violence and harm, specifically female university students who are compelled to commute by taxi on a daily basis. The study aimed to explore and document the psychological experiences of these female university students including their anxieties, levels of traumatic stress related responses, cognitions and fantasies, and conscious and unconscious adaptations to their circumstances. It was hoped that information gleaned would contribute to, and possibly expand the understanding of what the lived experience of Continuous Traumatic Stress (CTS) might entail. In order to investigate the research questions, ten students who were identified as being compelled to use minibus taxis as their primary mode of transport to and from university participated in semi-structured interviews on the topic of their experiences in this space and how they adapt to and survive in their circumstances. The study was located in the qualitative research tradition and the interview transcripts were analysed using critical thematic analysis. The main themes were identified and presented under four sections; exposure to traumatic events, the effects and impacts of these events, managing and coping, and gender related experiences in the taxi commuting space. Exposure to traumatic events included taxi driver aggression, motor vehicle accidents, crime and violence, xenophobic attacks and gender related trauma. The most prominent effects or impacts that were identified were firstly, anxiety, fear and preoccupation with danger and secondly, numbing, resignation and hopelessness. The tactics which were employed by participants in managing and coping with their circumstances included, prayer and observation and management of their commuting environment. It was through observation and self-management that participants practiced strategies that allowed them some measure of control in terms of how they conducted themselves in the taxi commuting space. Under the final section, participants revealed their gender related experiences reporting a sense of being exploited, being subject to sexual harassment, and the constant fear of rape or sexual violation. The links between these participants’ experience and the concept of CTS are presented and it is argued that many aspects of their experience appear consistent with CTS. / GR2017