Trauma is more common than we admit. Most people will experience at least one significantly traumatic event in their lifetime — and a lot of that suffering goes unnamed because we've defined trauma too narrowly. Contemporary psychoanalysts make a useful distinction: traumatophobia is the urge to resolve trauma and move on quickly. Traumatophilia asks a harder question — what might still be alive in it? What could it yet become?

EMDR has become the default treatment for trauma. But the research tells a more specific story. Most trials supporting EMDR studied episodic trauma — a car accident, a natural disaster, a single event with edges you can point to. Chronic relational trauma, moral injury, burnout — these are different animals. The tools that reach them are different too. Trauma is not one thing. The people carrying it deserve more than a one-size-fits-all response.

Containment isn’t just for therapy—it’s a part of daily life. Parents, partners, and even leaders help others manage emotions by listening, reflecting, and holding feelings with care. Bion’s insights remind us that resilience grows in relationships, shaping how we parent, work, and love in meaningful ways.

In therapy, overwhelming feelings can be shared with the therapist, who holds and reflects on them without judgment. This process—described by Bion as containment—helps patients internalize a new way of managing emotions. Over time, what once felt unbearable becomes thinkable, building resilience and deeper self-understanding.

We often assume the ability to reflect on feelings and understand others comes naturally. In fact, this capacity—called mentalization—is learned in our earliest relationships. When caregivers imagine and respond to a baby’s distress, they teach that emotions can be understood and managed. Therapy renews this process, helping us think about our own mind and others’ with more clarity, resilience, and compassion.

A psychoanalytic psychologists reflects on the common request by patients or clients for 'tools' for their mental health.

Our ability to manage emotions doesn’t begin inside us—it begins in relationships. As infants, we rely on caregivers to hold and make sense of feelings too big for us to handle. Over time, these experiences shape our resilience and become part of our inner world

The phenomenon where trauma experienced by one generation impact subsequent generations, is a complex and profound process.

In the world of therapy, many of us seek meaningful change but might feel wary of the time commitment traditionally associated with longer-t

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Making the Most Out of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy