Welcome to the ISSTD Virtual Book Club Registration Page
Dear Members,
We are looking to have discussions of classic literature from the archives of ISSTD’s original journal, Dissociation. Some of our field’s seminal works are contained there and are still relevant today. One of these papers is by Su Baker, entitled “Dancing the dance with dissociatives: Some thoughts on countertransference, projective identification, and enactments in the treatment of dissociative disorders.”
This very interesting paper begins to describe psychoanalytic concepts from the lens of working with dissociative patients. At the time Su wrote this paper the term enactment was not a well-known concept but seemed to fit transference/countertransference phenomena she and others were experiencing with dissociative patients. In my reading of it, the somewhat arcane concept of projective identification takes on a much more understandable meaning when described in the context of relating with dissociative self-states and the kinds of relational “dances” that can occur.
It would appear that the study of dissociation has helped to more clearly delineate the meanings of psychoanalytic concepts that may have been intuited by analytic thinkers, but rarely identified. So please join us in re-examining how our field has actually assisted analytic notions by clarifying them, while also enriching your own work by understanding how our relational dances with our dissociative patients can lead to successful outcomes.
About the Author​
Su Baker, MEd, licensed counsellor and psychotherapist, (private practice, Montreal, QC, Canada) has a masters degree in counselling psychology from McGill University and training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, clinical hypnosis and EMDR. She has worked in the field of trauma and dissociation for more than 30 years and teaches at conferences nationally and internationally. She was the ISSTD treasurer for 6 years, has sat on many ISSTD committees as well teaching in the Professional Training Program of the ISSTD since its inception 17 years ago. She is currently the PTP chair as well as the course director of the Intro to Complex Trauma course, and co-director (with Joan Turkus, MD) of the Standard and Advanced Dissociation courses. She is a fellow of the ISSTD and has received other ISSTD awards. She is the co-founder (with John O’Neil) and chair of the Montreal Study Group on Trauma and Dissociation (MSGTD), which has been meeting monthly for 27 years.
Best,
Rick Hohfeler and Joan Haliburn
ISSTD Virtual Book Club Moderators
The virtual book club is conducted online through a discussion platform which will allow participants in all parts of the world to participate at times that are convenient for them. Discussion will be led by our moderators Rick Hohfeler and Joan Haliburn along with the article's author Su Baker.
This is for ISSTD Members Only. If you are not yet a member and are interested in joining, please visit: ISSTD Membership page