The wizard of odd: A psychotherapeutic reading of what experiences of childhood surgery reveal about ‘the man behind the curtain’
Year: 2020
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Early childhood experiences of surgery (ECES) are a type of natural experiment into the \nlong-term effects of a highly dysregulating shock or trauma. This study inquires into how \nECES is experienced and understood over time into mature adulthood. The research \nexamines the academic literature related to childhood surgery and hospitalisation from the \nperspectives of medical models, developmental psychology and psychotherapeutic responses, \nas well as using narrative approaches (including allegorical story-telling) to discuss the topic \nof meaning-making. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is used to examine the \nsubjective experiences of three adult participants who have experienced ECES, the ways in \nwhich they make meaning from their experience, and the role psychotherapy can play in \nfacilitating a new awareness of past experience. The findings point towards ECES as an \noften-overlooked source of psychic difficulty or necessary adaptation that may instantiate \nearly coping mechanisms, which in turn become habitual pathways for experiencing life.
Source: eSource (Dublin Business School)
Author: Colm O’Connell
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3131416695