Reading The Inner World of Trauma by Donald Kalsched

Donald Kalsched is a contemporary analyst who has had a major influence on the Jungian community since the publication in 1996 of his first book, The Inner World of Trauma. Upon the publication in September 2024 of the book’s French translation, Kalsched’s publisher looks back on the author’s career and the theory and practice he has elaborated, based on what he calls the inner self-care system exhibited by individuals who have suffered unbearable experiences as children. An excerpt from the translation demonstrates the precision with which Kalsched detects archetypal dynamics, in an account of two phases of resolution of inner splits, as deduced from the study of various fairy tales.