Patsalides Hofmann referred to this as “dream on the patient’s behalf.” By analyzing her own dream, she was able to better understand her patient. B, Patsalides Hofmann had a dream about him. Psychoanalysts are known for analyzing their patients’ dreams, but while treating Mr. B later cut himself with a broken bottle in front of a social worker and was hospitalized. B went to asylum court, for example, “telling the details of his persecution … tore open the psychic wounds that had just begun to heal,” she said. Patsalides Hofmann described how making the effort to prove their past trauma impedes patients’ recovery. Asylum seekers must prove in court that they were tortured in their home countries, and neither symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder nor “declarative elements,” which refer to the patient’s telling of their story, are considered sufficient proof, Patsalides Hofmann said. B did to put their experiences into words.Īt the Primo Levi Centre, which provides physical and psychological care as well as social and legal services to people who have survived torture, Patsalides Hofmann often works with people seeking political asylum in France, an extremely difficult process. Additionally, survivors of torture often struggle as Mr.

This invader, analogous to Freud’s trauma metaphor as “foreign body,” is something that torture survivors can neither get rid of nor accept as their own, she added. This is intentional, she said: Torture that involves sensory deprivation, such as hooding, isolation, and sleep deprivation, is designed to make the prisoner feel that he is torturing himself.

B often feel as if they have been invaded by another person who is torturing them from within. In her talk, Patsalides Hofmann described how torture survivors like Mr. Marans, Epstein, and Patsalides Hofmann are working with colleagues in Ukraine to develop and provide trainings on psychoanalytic trauma-focused treatments for mental health clinicians at Lviv Hospital, including a program, sponsored by the Primo Levi Centre, that will train Ukrainian clinicians to work with people who have survived torture during the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Telling the details of his persecution … tore open the psychic wounds that had just begun to heal. B, Marans says, Patsalides Hofmann helped the audience to understand how torture affects people’s minds. Marans invited Patsalides Hofmann to speak at Yale, and the center sponsored the talk. Physical pain is what many people may think of first when they imagine torture, says Steven Marans, PhD, MSW, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and co-director, with Carrie Epstein, LCSW, of the Yale Center for Traumatic Stress and Recovery. B in a talk she gave at the Yale Child Study Center on May 23: At the mind’s limit: Can psychoanalysis treat the effects of political violence, torture, and dehumanization? Reflections on the analyst’s dream. Patsalides Hofmann told the story of treating Mr. B, as Patsalides Hofmann refers to him, showed her the scars on his body and acted out his torturer’s movements. We will use every means available-and maybe even invent some new ones-to help the child and their family.When psychoanalyst Beatrice Patsalides Hofmann, PhD, began treating asylum seeker and torture survivor Mamadou Bae at the Primo Levi Centre in Paris, the patient didn’t speak to her. We provide office and home-based interventions as well as telehealth services, and we work with as many people involved in your child’s growth as possible, including parents, teachers and pediatricians.Ībove all, we care about your child’s development and your family’s well-being. As we begin to understand the family and child, we will guide our patients through the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment process. Common concerns include developmental delays, behaviors or worries that interfere with their child’s life, isolation and fear of school, and defiant and difficult behavior. We care for children and adolescents whose families are concerned about their child’s development and behavior. The Yale Child Study Center is an internationally recognized center of innovation in child and family mental health, dedicated to promoting healthy development and psychological well-being across the lifespan.

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