Can we avert the intergenerational transmission of trauma, deprivation and racism through reflective practice?

ABOUT

Psychological trauma and deprivation reverberate through the generations within families and communities. In many countries such as South Africa, it is racism that is often the root cause of these devastating experiences. While trauma overwhelms the psyche leading to splitting, deprivation leaves gaps that need to be filled. Through reflection, links could be made to the origins of the psychic splits and gaps which in turn would prevent their unconscious transmission to the next generation. How to find a way to do this in multicultural spaces is a challenge – examples from work in communities in South Africa will be presented. 

ASTRID BERG is a Jungian analyst as well as a specialist in child and infant psychiatry. She was instrumental in founding the C. G. Jung Centre of Cape Town and has also served as president of the Southern African Association of Jungian Analysts. Berg is currently an Emerita Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town and Associate Professor Extraordinary in Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University. In 2012 she published her award-winning book "Connecting with South Africa - cultural communication and understanding"?.