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主題演講

Large Group Psychology:Shared Sadness and Trauma

演講大綱

My term “large group” describes thousands or millions of people, most of whom never see or even know about each other as individuals, but who share many of the same sentiments and the same ancestral history. This term refers to ethnic, national, and religious identities which develop in childhood, as well as ideological identities which may develop in adulthood. Subjective experiences of large‐group identities are expressed in terms such as “We are Palestinians living in Israel,” “We are French,” “We are Sunni Muslims,” or “We are white supremacists in the United States of America.”

There are different types of shared traumas. They range from those caused by natural events such as earthquakes, tropical storms, tsunamis, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, caused by the death of a leader and caused by wars, terrorism, and racism when humans beings deliberately oppress or kill the Other with a different large-group identity. All types of traumas are associated with loses and sadness and the necessity of mourning. When shared mourning becomes complicated the victims pass the image of the shared trauma and associated feelings and thoughts to the next generations.

At the present time COVID-19 threatens all beings: old people, young people, rich people, poor people, famous people, refugees as well as psychotherapists and their patients. As a supervisor I studied 10 therapists’ and their 16 patients’ reactions to forced changes in the treatment modes due to the pandemic from early March 2020 until mid‐January 2021.  I will discuss these patients’ as well as their therapists’ individualized as well as shared responses to starting “long-distance” treatments. I will also illustrate how the trauma due to this viral pandemic also reignites historical traumas.

This presentation focuses on how present-day external events become intertwined with individuals’ internal events.

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沃米克.沃爾肯

Vamık Volkan 

出身土耳其賽普勒斯的精神分析師,曾獲得心理醫學界許多重要獎項,享譽國際。對世界有更重大貢獻的是,沃爾肯出身賽普勒斯,一個種族衝突不斷的地方,他立志運用他的心理專業,奔走在國際戰線、族群衝突現場,從事國際和平工作,讓敵對的兩方能夠聽見對方心聲,以彌平族群衝突、戰爭創傷。他的身影出現在愛沙尼亞與俄羅斯人之間、以色列人與阿拉伯人之間,矢志把心理治療運用在「大至國家的團體」,移除敵對兩國的「心理障礙」,進而達到相互尊重的和平。他並創立國際對話倡議組織,五次獲得諾貝爾和平獎提名。

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