IAGP WEBINAR – The situation of refugees: traumatisation, dehumanisation and disrupted relations. What can psychoanalytically informed intervention offer?

👉🏽Refugees are often dehumanised and treated as a uniform group with individual identities ignored. This dehumanisation persists throughout their journey—from their home country to their flight and reception. Refugees face extreme danger and severe trauma, often in contexts lacking relational and emotional support. They are frequently seen as passive subjects with limited agency to change their circumstances. Harsh conditions during flight, combined with inadequate medical and psychological care in camps and reception centres, intensify their suffering.

🫂This discussion explores the effects of trauma and dehumanisation on individuals and groups, emphasising the importance of addressing group processes in interventions. Psychoanalytically informed approaches are proposed as particularly insightful for understanding the profound impacts of trauma and fostering resilience. These approaches consider the individual psyche and the collective dynamics within groups, highlighting the mind’s capacity for life-promoting and resilient forces. Psychoanalytic interventions can play a crucial role in addressing the profound consequences of trauma while promoting individual and group recovery.

💠 Presented by
Sverre Varvin , MD. DPhil, is a training and supervising analyst of the Norwegian Psychoanalytic Society. He is professor emeritus at the Oslo Metropolitan University. He has done clinical research on traumatization and the treatment of traumatized patients, especially in the refugee field. He has done process and outcome research on psychoanalytic therapy, research on traumatic dreams, and on psychoanalytic training. He has twice been president of the Norwegian psychoanalytic Society and he has held several positions in International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), such as vice-president, board member and chair of the IPA working group on terror and terrorism. He was recently chair of IPA China Committee. He received the Sigourney award in 2004.
He has published articles and books on traumatization, refugees, terrorism, and research on treatment process and outcome.

FEBRUARY 23rd 7-9PM CET

🌐Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/glzPiejLTXqMKX_zUokvaA