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Mourning the Person One Could Have Become

On the Road from Trauma to Authenticity

Witold Simon

This book introduces the concept of the “Person One Could Have Become” and shows the importance of mourning for individuals with traumatic experiences. The Person One Could Have Become is conceptualized as personality and physical characteristics that could have emerged if an individual, at the right time, had received or opted for an appropriate quantity and quality of stimuli and experiences, which in turn would have enabled the person to make more mature and independent choices. Consequences of potentially traumatic events bear non-linear, meta-folding, and multicontextual meaning unique to each being-in-the-world. Many people with a history of trauma tend to mystify their existence in order to survive.

This book contains an overview of the ramifications of abuse and neglect on personality, as well as the consequences of pregnancy loss and the specific loss of possibility and its co-occurrence with abuse and neglect. It looks at examples from daily life and two cases of traumatized individuals who differ in their background and experience of trauma, as well as in their struggles during psychotherapy. This book is not intended as a treatment manual, nor does it advocate for any particular therapeutic approach. It is, rather, an encouragement of a way of living. Indeed, a reasonable mourning of the Person One Could Have Become may set the individual free—also such with the history of trauma—for the road beyond the traditional psychotherapy outcome, the road toward authenticity.

Jason Aronson, Inc.

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7657-0845-8 • Hardback • December 2011 • $126.00 • (£97.00)

978-0-7657-0847-2 • eBook • December 2011 • $119.50 • (£92.00)

Subjects: Psychology / Psychotherapy / General, Psychology / General, Psychology / Clinical Psychology, Psychology / Psychotherapy / Counseling, Psychology / Psychopathology / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Psychology / Mental Health, Psychology / Developmental / Adulthood & Aging, Psychology / Developmental / Lifespan Development, Family & Relationships / Death, Grief, Bereavement, Psychology / Grief & Loss, Psychology / Sensation/Perception, Psychology / Consultation

Mourning the Person One Could Have Become

On the Road from Trauma to Authenticity

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This book introduces the concept of the “Person One Could Have Become” and shows the importance of mourning for individuals with traumatic experiences. The Person One Could Have Become is conceptualized as personality and physical characteristics that could have emerged if an individual, at the right time, had received or opted for an appropriate quantity and quality of stimuli and experiences, which in turn would have enabled the person to make more mature and independent choices. Consequences of potentially traumatic events bear non-linear, meta-folding, and multicontextual meaning unique to each being-in-the-world. Many people with a history of trauma tend to mystify their existence in order to survive.

This book contains an overview of the ramifications of abuse and neglect on personality, as well as the consequences of pregnancy loss and the specific loss of possibility and its co-occurrence with abuse and neglect. It looks at examples from daily life and two cases of traumatized individuals who differ in their background and experience of trauma, as well as in their struggles during psychotherapy. This book is not intended as a treatment manual, nor does it advocate for any particular therapeutic approach. It is, rather, an encouragement of a way of living. Indeed, a reasonable mourning of the Person One Could Have Become may set the individual free—also such with the history of trauma—for the road beyond the traditional psychotherapy outcome, the road toward authenticity.

Details

Jason Aronson, Inc.

Pages: 286 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7657-0845-8 • Hardback • December 2011 • $126.00 • (£97.00)

978-0-7657-0847-2 • eBook • December 2011 • $119.50 • (£92.00)

Subjects: Psychology / Psychotherapy / General, Psychology / General, Psychology / Clinical Psychology, Psychology / Psychotherapy / Counseling, Psychology / Psychopathology / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Psychology / Mental Health, Psychology / Developmental / Adulthood & Aging, Psychology / Developmental / Lifespan Development, Family & Relationships / Death, Grief, Bereavement, Psychology / Grief & Loss, Psychology / Sensation/Perception, Psychology / Consultation

Author

Witold Simon, MD, PhD, CGP, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Neurotic Disorders and Psychotherapy, at the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter I. Clash of determinism and existentialism: Causal explanations versus contextual meanings
Chapter II. The shattering ramifications of abuse and neglect
Chapter III. Potential traumatic consequences of pregnancy loss
Chapter IV. The anamnesis of two individuals experienced by trauma
Chapter V. The Person One Could Have Become
Chapter VI. Mourning the Person One Could Have Become
Chapter VII. The clinical application of mourning the Person One Could Have Become: the NEST group psychotherapy
Chapter VIII. The role of the therapist in mourning the Person One Could Have Become
Chapter IX. Supervision of the process of mourning the Person One Could Have Become
Chapter X. The clients’ process of defining and mourning the Person One Could Have Become
Chapter XI. Long-term ramifications: Continuous process of transformation beyond the termination of psychotherapy
Chapter XII. Aftermath of clients’ mourning processes
Chapter XIII. Critique of the concept of mourning the Person One Could Have Become
Conclusions
References
Index
Author

Reviews

Simon's work here is impressive. He illuminates at both the practical and theoretical levels a relatively overlooked but vital aspect of humans and psychotherapy, and he does so by richly relating the work of a host of important existentialists.
— Brent D. Slife, Professor of Psychology, Brigham Young University

This engaging book goes deeply into a very relevant clinical topic. Witold Simon provides the theoretical solid ground of the innovative construct The Person One Could Have Become (POCHB) and its connection to trauma experiences. The author presents the term from a new perspective based on a profound reflection, as well as multiple theoretical approaches with a strong emphasis in an existential-humanistic view. Simon very well depicts how psychotherapy could be an experience of moving from trauma to authenticity, pointing out integrative group psychotherapy as modality fit enough for such a profound transition as mourning the Person One Could Have Become. The role of the therapist and supervision features is subsequently described. Critiques of the POCHB concept are not spared, inviting the reader to widen the scope of study and discussing further research.

— Héctor Fernández L'Hoeste, Aigle Foundation; University of Belgrano

Dr. Witold Simon has created a comprehensive overview of existential approaches to trauma. This book extends our understanding of trauma further than both Jacobsen's European existential summarization of the topic, and Stubrin's recent American humanistic-existential work. I believe he is successful in going beyond manualization and in so doing provides a very stimulating book which will be of great interest to practitioners. Working with trauma is frequently challenging and such encouragement and thoughtful critique is much-needed.
— Simon du Plock, Middlesex University

Mourning the Person One Could Have Become

On the Road from Trauma to Authenticity

Witold Simon

Mourning the Person One Could Have Become

On the Road from Trauma to Authenticity

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