Working the Double Edge: Unbraiding Pathology and Resiliency in the Narratives of Early-Recovery Trauma Survivors

摘要

The purposes of this article are to (a) document salient characteristics and dilemmas of early recovery from complex trauma as evidenced in the narratives of 20 trauma survivors in treatment; (b) identify sources and expressions of resiliency that may coexist, and indeed be intertwined, with severe psychopathology; and (c) consider what the narratives tell us that therapists might need to know as they approach the task of offering help to traumatized patients in the relational context of psychotherapy. Using a grounded theory analysis of interview transcripts of survivors, preludes to vulnerability (i.e., experiences and circumstances that portend of harm and set the stage for recurrent and extreme abuse) are discussed. The ways in which self-experience and identity development can become corrupted by recurrent trauma are presented. Narrative analysis reveals that adaptations to trauma are typically both pathogenic and suggestive of resilient capacities that may be mined in the service of functionality, and recovery.