Psychotherapeutic Work with Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma to intergenerational healing

In this presentation, Dr Aileen Alleyne explores the unconscious psychological processes of intergenerational trauma in the Black community in Britain, tracing a line between the historical traumas and racial oppression faced by that community and consequential vulnerabilities of daily life. Dr Alleyne represents those dynamics in the form of a Cycle of Events showing the specific mechanisms and effects of intergenerational trauma. She elaborates each stage of the cycle to illustrate the therapeutic issues involved and the processes necessary for bringing about healing of black identity wounding. This presentation is informed by both a socio-political framework and psychoanalytic theory that centers on black-white relationships and the development of the self.