The Annual Solange Skinner Program

Trauma & the Art of Transformation: The Afterdeath of the Holocaust

NEFP provided funding for this program.

Trauma is transformed through creative acts of living expressed in artistic form. 

This program explores the concept of the “afterdeath” in life after trauma, violence, and loss. What makes life after trauma possible? What is the role of art and literature in doing justice to the past and imaging different futures? In exploring “afterdeath” in relation to the Holocaust, we will offer compelling examples of how traumatic experience is transformed through creative solutions, how psychoanalytic treatment fosters this creative process. Trauma is an inherent aspect of clinical work. This program enriches the clinician’s understanding and work with creative aspects of our process as pathways to transformation and change.

Learning Objectives

1. Describe two basic psychoanalytic concepts of trauma and its effects.
2. Apply the concept of the “afterdeath” in work with patients concerning trauma.  
3. Describe two ways that the creative arts can contribute to work with trauma.
4. Discuss and assess the concept of transformation of trauma.