Assignment for Trauma (PSY 217), Spring 2021
Group papers, as defined in the syllabus, involve creating a single document incorporating your group members’ work and answering the questions for that topic.
This paper should:
The paper is due by midnight on Friday, April 30th.
(If you would like to use external sources, use Google Scholar, PsycINFO, or any of the databases through the Bard library.)
Choose one of the case studies described in the PDM-2 or in the Davies & Frawley reading—or come up with your own. Your group’s job is to flesh out the case and describe potential psychodynamic angles for understanding it, as follows.
First, describe the case. What features help you understand the patient’s primary concern? How does their trauma history result in their current mental distress? Feel free to use the language of psychoanalysis as you describe the theoretical patient’s experience; in particular, I recommend referring to the PDM’s affective states, cognitive patterns, somatic states, and relationship patterns.
Then, talk about several (at least three) of the following and how they might play out in treatment:
Conclude by (briefly) discussing what you would expect the patient’s prognosis to be—will they benefit from therapy?