Maria Teresa Aydemir
Eastern and Central European Community of Jungian Analysts (ECECJA), Poland International Association for Analytical Psychology, Poland
Title: Snow white-a life in the midst of emotional dwarfs: A clinical case study of longterm psychotherapy of a recurrently sexually abused patient
Biography
Biography: Maria Teresa Aydemir
Abstract
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss an issue of stress connected with sexual abuse in childhood. Special attention will be paid to the subject of long-term stress reaction to this type of abuse. Primarily, its impact on a person's adult life will be analyzed. This topic will be illustrated by a case study of a therapy of an adult female patient who persistently fell victim to sexual molestation as a child. The matters of an incest, pedophilia, alcoholism and domestic abuse will also be discussed here. During my over 20-year clinical practice, both in the health mental clinics and private consulting rooms, I repeatedly faced the problem of various types of sexual violence in my patients' life stories. A large number of my adult patients permanently endured long-term stress resulting from sexual assaults which took place in their childhood. As a psychologist and analyst, I accompanied them in their process of recovery. The history of struggling by one of those patients with difficulties in overcoming this ordeal stress will be the guide thread of my presentation. The “Snow White” fairytale will be used as a metaphor to picture the trauma which the patient had to go through. As it was in the case of the main character of the fairytale, my patient's dazzling beauty also put her in trouble. Just like Snow White, she also suffered from a harrowing relationship with her mother. Just like Snow White was abandoned in the forest, my patient, as a child, was also left alone with all her unbearable feelings of pain, dread, helplessness and loss. The lecture will be delivered in the form of a 25-minute multi-media oral presentation in English.