Through the Looking Glass: The Role of Fantasy in Trauma

This session is available for 1.50 APA and ASWB credits.

Exploration of fantasy has been a neglected aspect of psychotherapy outside the purview of psychoanalysis. However, work with fantasies can be a deep and rich addition to therapy. Adaptive fantasies can provide wonderful, creative escapes from reality that resource and inspire us, enriching our lives, and clarifying our future actions. They can provide alternative explorations of secure attachment and healing that support relationships. However, they may also reflect social denial of trauma, fostering a world view that is not adaptive. Fantasies may thus become personal prisons, leaving clients bound by maladaptive expectations and behaviors that support avoidance of reality. We will discuss the roles of explicit and implicit fantasies in clients, including the newer syndrome of Maladaptive Daydreaming. Dysfunctional fantasies typically arise in the context of isolation, neglect, trauma, severe attachment disruptions, or loss. They may become maladaptive substrates of mental representations (Internal Working Models) of self and others and can affect how well clients can mentalize. Types of fantasies include omnipotent and perfectionistic ones that manifest in inner critical beliefs and avoidance of help and support; fantasies of care and rescue that underlie dependency; fantasies of the perfect relationship; narcissistic fantasies of power, control, and exceptionalism; erotic fantasies; and fantasies involving trauma, rage, sadomasochistic elements, and revenge. Participants will learn how to recognize maladaptive fantasies and discuss these with their clients in a nonjudgmental and curious way. We will then explore ways to resolve the central conflicts and avoidance of reality in these fantasies.