Object Relations Therapy of Physical and Sexual Trauma

The Scharffs draw from their object relations therapy with individuals, families, and couples recovering from trauma and abundance of relevant clinical examples described in tehir characteristically personal and vivid style. Their treatment approach, influenced by Fairbairn, Klein, and Winnicott, is respectful of the patient's experience. They advise avoiding premature interpretations tha impose their own reality on patients because this traumatizes them just as their abuser did. In order to work well with these traumatized people, the clinician must be able to tolerate ambiguity and sustain longterm therapy, for it takes the patience of waiting and wondering to recover deeply repressed memories, explore them thoroughly, and evaluate their meaning and importance for the patient. Object relations theory offers a bridge between individual and societal experiences of trauma and prepares the way for a less dissociated response to trauma issues among the mental health professions and their psychotherapy literature.

David E. Scharff, M.D., is a Co-Director of the International Institute of Object Relations Therapy.