ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the connect thinking about the group-asa-whole to some of the latest thinking on trauma. It explores the inevitably leads to connections to the body in the group since trauma is a biopsychosocial phenomenon. Although the upper centers of the brain knew that the event had passed, the body was still re-enacting the trauma as if it was still occurring, resulting in a tic. The repression weakens and the feelings flood to the surface, sometimes along with the memories of the trauma, sometimes not. The individual who experiences the trauma can vary widely along many dimensions. Trauma can be ameliorated or worsened by the family or social networks or community one inhabits. Some of these environments can be extremely helpful in coping with and working through trauma in that they provide help, guidance, and support. The assertion, “What is refused in the symbolic re-emerges in the Real” applies par excellence to trauma.
