Redefining Identity after Trauma or Loss

Individuals who experience trauma or loss perceive a seriously altered world. Survivors must revise their mental models of identity and adapt to new circumstances. When emotional disturbances lead to a person seeking treatment, useful therapy techniques include efforts at developing new self-concepts. A particular defense that can interfere with self-growth is dissociative shifting in a binary of self-states. Therapists can share observations of this obstacle and help patients form a balanced, nuanced, and coherent self-organization.