Psychic Trauma

Ira Brenner, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He was the executive director of the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute as well as the president of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society. He has worked extensively in the area of psychic trauma for the last 25 years, most notably on the effects of genocidal persecution during the Holocaust and the effects of early physical and sexual abuse. He has lectured nationally and internationally, and recently was on a panel at the U.N. on "Anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia, and Racism," where he spoke on Anti-Semitism. Dr. Brenner is on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies where he edited a special edition on the reverberations of the Holocaust. He has written over 50 publications, including a book with Judith Kestenberg, The Last Witness: The Child Survivor of the Holocaust (1996), and his 2001 book, Dissociation of Trauma: Theory, Phenomenology, and Technique. He received the Simon Gratz Research Prize from Jefferson (2000) for his work on the Holocaust, the Piaget Writing Award from the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (2001) for his first book on dissociation, and was recognized as "Practitioner of the Year"(2003) by the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society. Dr. Brenner is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the AOA medical honor society, the American College of Psychoanalysts, and is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is in private practice in the Philadelphia area.

Chapter 1 An Effect on Development: Trauma and Dissociation Chapter 2 A Longstanding Secret: Mother-Adult Daughter Incest and "The Confusion of Tongues" Chapter 3 An Elusive Manifestation and an Attempt to Study It Chapter 4 The Lifelong Persistence of Symptoms: Returning to the Fire Chapter 5 Intergenerational Transmission: Barbed Wire in the Soul Chapter 6 An Effect on Development: Unresolved Grief and the Manic Defense Chapter 7 The Analyst's Own Trauma: Anonymity and Its Discontents Chapter 8 Falling Asleep on the Job: Facilitation of the Patient's Process or the Analyst's Resistance? Chapter 9 Can the Length of Treatment Be Shortened? A Psychoanalytic View of E.M.D.R