The Healing of Trauma during Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Years of Life

From Dreaming to Being

Norma Tracey

The Healing of Trauma during Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Years of Life: From Dreaming to Being focuses on the inner world of the woman in the creative processes of pregnancy, birth, and early life and the healing of the traumas of this period. It gives an in-depth understanding of the Aboriginal woman during pregnancy, birth, and infancy and the effects of culture and transgenerational trauma on these processes.

Lexington Books

Pages: 224 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-66692-126-7 • Hardback • February 2023 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-66692-127-4 • eBook • January 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Series: Psychoanalytic Studies: Clinical, Social, and Cultural Contexts

Subjects: Psychology / Social Psychology, Psychology / Health Psychology, Psychology / Applied Psychology, Psychology / Grief & Loss, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Australian & Oceanian Studies, Social Science / Indigenous Studies, Social Science / Women's Studies

The Healing of Trauma during Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Years of Life

From Dreaming to Being

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The Healing of Trauma during Pregnancy, Birth, and the First Years of Life: From Dreaming to Being focuses on the inner world of the woman in the creative processes of pregnancy, birth, and early life and the healing of the traumas of this period. It gives an in-depth understanding of the Aboriginal woman during pregnancy, birth, and infancy and the effects of culture and transgenerational trauma on these processes.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 224 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-66692-126-7 • Hardback • February 2023 • $100.00 • (£77.00)

978-1-66692-127-4 • eBook • January 2023 • $45.00 • (£35.00)

Series: Psychoanalytic Studies: Clinical, Social, and Cultural Contexts

Subjects: Psychology / Social Psychology, Psychology / Health Psychology, Psychology / Applied Psychology, Psychology / Grief & Loss, Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Australian & Oceanian Studies, Social Science / Indigenous Studies, Social Science / Women's Studies

Author

Norma Tracey is the founder and clinical director of Strong Mothers Inc.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Cover Story
Introduction
Chapter 1: Psychic Trauma and Its Healing
Chapter 2: Inner World Processes During Pregnancy
Chapter 3: Trauma During Pregnancy
Chapter 4: Identifying and Working With Trauma During Pregnancy
Chapter 5: The Psychic Pain of Trauma, Therapy Relating to Trauma During the Newborn Period
Chapter 6: Working With Depressed Mothers in the Early Months of Their Infant’s Life
Chapter 7: The Psychic Reality of Becoming a Mother
Chapter 8: The Autistic Core in Aboriginal Trauma
Chapter 9: From Oblivion to Being: Faith and Catastrophe
Chapter 10: Precreative Space
Chapter 11: Working with Traumatized Aboriginal Infants and Children in Early Years of Life
Chapter 12: The Unspeakable Nature of Trauma
Chapter 13: The Transformational Process of Working Through Early Childhood Trauma in Adult Psychotherapy
Chapter 14: And in the End
Other Publications by the Author
References
Index
About the Author

Reviews

This book brings hope as well as inspiration to health workers, social workers, teachers, and therapists alike. It also provides a model for working with indigenous people who have a history of cultural and societal abuse as well as histories of intergenerational trauma. Tracey’s passion for healing is revealed as is her faith in the ability to heal even for the most traumatized and difficult to reach patients. Her work with traumatized mothers and babies as well as fathers and mothers is truly remarkable. Faith in the analytic process is revealed in these stories of broken lives re-claimed. This volume provides a psychoanalytic model for in depth work with trauma survivors. These are those persons who are often forgotten or dismissed as untreatable. Yet treatable they are, and Norma Tracey’s book demonstrates how this might be thought about and accomplished. In addition, Tracey acknowledges the toll paid by health care workers who often feel confused and overwhelmed by the pain and trauma of their patients, and yet they stay steadfast in their commitment to ongoing learning and ongoing change. Her book will aid them.

— Judy Eekhoff, Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and COR Northwestern Family Development Center