The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep: A Relational Approach to Internalized Perpetration in Complex Trauma Survivors - Softcover

'The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep provides breakthrough persepctives to allow previously unknown points of access to better understand and treat some of the most intractable conditions of the human spirit...If clinicians are able to comprehend and work with the populations that are mentioned throughout this book, then working with other types of traumatized individuals should be a piece of cake. For this reason alone The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep is worth its weight in gold.' - Robert Grant, The Therapist, November 2014

'This outstanding scholarly work explores aspects of humanity which are often deemed unthinkable. It gives new meaning to ‘holding the space’ for healing in profoundly difficult contexts and speaks of transformation. It will resonate with anyone who is concerned about atrocities against children, especially clinicians who work with child and adult survivors of complex trauma and mind control.' - Sue Richardson, UKCP registered Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist

"Embracing this realistically hopeful connection throughout, The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep is a tender, painful, and essential book to be taken into the heart by psychoanalytic therapists ofevery persuasion."
Karen Peoples, Fort Da (2016), 22(1), 63-75

The literature on psychological trauma and traumatic attachment has progressed over the past few decades, however issues of coerced and internalized perpetration have not been fully explored and deconstructed. This book presents a synthesis of relational and archetypal psychology, trauma and dissociation theory, and highly relevant child soldier literature, to offer new clinical perspectives to assist psychotherapists and trauma patients to achieve more successful therapy outcomes.

The Alchemy of Wolves and Sheep offers instructive, cautionary and innovative therapeutic approaches to help transform the lives of survivors of complex trauma. Providing an explanation of how the effects of coerced perpetration trauma are built, and the damage done to the psyches and lives of most trauma victims, the book extends our knowledge base in a thorough deconstruction of the nature of perpetration and its effects on the psyche.

Chapters include:

- trauma, dissociation, and coerced perpetration

- the child soldier as a model of internalized perpetration

- relational concepts in the treatment of trauma and dissociative disorders

- treatment trajectory

- archetypal constructs as a vehicle for integration.

This book provides valuable new perspectives on the psychodynamic challenges and opportunities for mental health professionals treating internalized perpetration in survivors of complex trauma, and will prove essential reading for psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and post-graduate students as well as researchers, legal scholars and policy makers.