On the Edge of the World: Trauma and Twinship Self-object Needs in Mrs. Dalloway

Date of Award

Summer 8-25-2012

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Peter Buirski

Second Advisor

Fernand Lubuguin

Third Advisor

Lee Hockman

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Self psychology, Qualitative research, Assessment, Twinship, Alienation, Intersubjectivity theory, Combat veterans, Trauma, Mrs. Dalloway, Fiction, World War I

Abstract

Alienation and aloneness appear as common themes in the experience of those impacted by trauma. Self psychology theorists, including contemporary proponents of intersubjectivity theory, have also discussed the ways in which alienation and disconnection from others permeate the experience of post-traumatic stress disorder. This discussion has highlighted the importance and centrality of twinship self-object needs in providing a relational home for the emotional pain associated with trauma. These phenomena are especially apparent when one encounters the experiences of those combat veterans who have attempted to readjust to society upon returning home from military service. Using self psychology and intersubjectivity theory, this paper explores the ways that fiction, specifically Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, can illuminate the ways that trauma negatively impacts twinship self-object needs in combat veterans. In examining the character of Septimus Smith, this paper illustrates the estrangement, singularity, and alienation associated with post-traumatic stress, and how this state of being can collude with societal misunderstanding and repression to shatter the self's sense of belongingness with and connection to others.

Copyright Date

7-16-2012

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Benjamin Molland

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

46 pgs

This document is currently not available here.



Share

COinS