Donald Kalsched, Ph.D., Jungian Analyst, and Clinical Psychologist, led a May 17-19th lecture, workshop, and colloquium during which he and attendees explored the ideas of restoring the lost soul to the body and the relationship between trauma, paranormal experiences, and synchronicity. Donald shared anecdotes from his practice, analyses of art and literature, and teachings from his book Trauma and the Soul (Routledge, 2013).
Much of Saturday’s discussion centered around early childhood experiences of trauma that eclipse access to or understanding of one’s feelings, and how experiences of angels, out-of-body awareness, and other divine intervention often occur at developmental stages when the ego is unable to process the trauma one is experiencing. Kalsched stressed the need to develop a relationship with and ability to articulate feelings in order to grow through the experience of being protected—or in some cases, even possessed—by otherworldly energies that came to one’s aid in early childhood.
Donald and numerous attendees shared experiences that support his idea that this breaking and breaking open by trauma is, for many, an initiation into a psycho-spiritual dimension in which mysterious, uncanny powers, including psychic powers, reside.
Sunday’s colloquium was limited to licensed clinicians and other therapeutic professionals. It gave them the opportunity to discuss particular cases and issues of working with trauma survivors with Donald and one another.
Donald maintains a private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of the C. G. Jung Institute of Santa Fe, a training analyst with the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He teaches and lectures nationally and internationally on the subject of early trauma and its treatment. His two books, The Inner World of Trauma (Routledge, 1996) and Trauma and the Soul (Routledge, 2013) have found a wide readership and have each been translated into many languages.
