Echoes of Trauma

“A masterful writer and clinician, Charles has penned a volume that illuminates principles integral to psychoanalysis and depth psychology. With rich case histories that offer expert attention to eating disorders, narcissism, and psychosis, Charles stays close to her subject in a manner that demonstrates a style of gentle in vivo development in response to early traumas. While simultaneously providing ample footing for graduate students and analytic candidates seeking integration of theory and practice, this is a book that seasoned clinicians will also find illuminating. I highly recommend it and hope that it will become a sought-after cornerstone in supervisory seminars.” - Louis Rothschild, PhD, independent practice, Northern Baltimore County, MD; author of Rapprochement Between Fathers and Sons: Breakdowns, Reunions, Potentialities “In this work, Dr. Charles leads us on a guided tour through what psychoanalysis has to offer patients in the wake of early relational trauma. With clinical wisdom and sophistication, she weaves together theory and clinical examples in ways that are at once sweeping and simple. Dr. Charles’s expertise and synthesis of the literature will fill gaps in the knowledge of experienced clinicians while also inspiring students to think about the nature of engagement. As in her other works, here Dr. Charles demonstrates her steadfast commitment to carrying the best of psychoanalysis forward in her own voice.” - Christina Biedermann, PsyD, ABAP, Associate Professor, Illinois School of Professional Psychology at National Louis University, Chicago, IL “Echoes of Trauma is equally evocative and accessible, bringing to life the legacy of trauma in the consulting room. It promises to inspire clinicians of all levels of experience to immerse themselves more authentically in the art of this work. An essential reading for anyone who works with traumatized individuals.” - Stephanie Kors, PhD, Assistant Professor, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore “Reading this book is like listening while a fine musician explores the possibilities of an instrument. The melodies that Marilyn Charles plays are familiar, but the ways she engages with them are creative and moving. Anyone interested in applied psychoanalytic theory and practice will find Echoes of Trauma both clinically useful and personally enlightening.” - Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, Visiting Professor Emerita, Rutgers Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology, New Brunswick, NJ “With “trauma” literature proliferating over the last few decades, the subject can get rather tired and one dimensional. In Echoes of Trauma, however, Charles returns our formulations about trauma to a more sophisticated, developmental, embodied, and generously conceptualized form. Charles’s text is a treasure of theoretical depth with tremendous clinical application. This is the very best of contemporary psychoanalysis.” - David M. Goodman, PhD, Dean, Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA “Echoes of Trauma is a scholarly work by a master clinician that will be studied for years to come. The author’s integrative approach may well represent the future of psychoanalysis.” - Deborah Anna Luepnitz, PhD, Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA “Marilyn Charles weaves her wealth of clinical experience working with the most complex patients, her sophisticated knowledge of psychoanalysis, and elements of her own life story into a narrative that illustrates how therapists can accompany their patients on a journey into meaning. She demonstrates how trust, respect, attunement to mourning, and deep humility can create a space that invites even the most vulnerable patients into a journey toward healing and toward drawing wisdom from their own lived experience.” - Michael O’Loughlin, PhD, Professor, Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY; coeditor of the journal Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, is a psychologist and psychoanalyst at the Austen Riggs Center, chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, and Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council. Affiliations include Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, Universidad de Monterrey, and Harvard Medical School.