I am currently conducting psychotherapy research through the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I am registered as a Psychology doctoral student. The research which I am conducting is an extension of my previous doctoral research of mine, through the University of Cape Town. I am focusing on the transmission of trauma from the survivor generation, to the second generation. I have a specific research interest in the intergenerational transmission of trauma. My intention is to explore family psychotherapy as a treatment approach for intergenerational trauma. I am curious to learn more about the effect of family psychotherapy on individual family members, particularly where trauma in the parent generation is concerned. The type of traumatic experiences which I am focusing on is exclusively interpersonal in nature, meaning that the original trauma, which the parent/s survived, involved an experience of overwhelming physical and/or mental threat which occurred between people; between perpetrator/s and victim/s. I am also interested in traumatic experiences which occurred across time, and in the form of less intense but more repetitive experiences. An example of this could be early life emotional neglect, which doesn’t register as a single traumatic moment, but rather as a feeling which persists for a long period of time. This form of cumulative trauma is an equally important focus of my research. Trauma is akin to intense panic, with the traumatic experience being one which we feel completely unable to control, and which we are at the mercy of. The traumatized state, and its effects on the survivor’s future, is defined by its impacts on emotions, thought, behaviour, and our relationship with people and with the world in general. Intergenerational trauma, in relation to this, is the surfacing, in subsequent generations, or the traumatized state.
The research which I aim to pursue will be structured as short- to medium-term family psychotherapy, in which I would be engaged in the dual role of therapist and researcher. In a sense, we would learn together about what aspects of family therapy are useful for family members, specifically where treating symptoms of trauma is concerned. During the course of the family therapy process I will work with the family as a whole, and occasionally with two family members or three family members alone, depending on the core conflicts and sources of struggle that emerge. Sessions will be scheduled once weekly and will be fifty minutes in length, lasting between three to six months, with six months being the maximum length of time of your commitment. Entry into the research is entirely voluntary, and anyone who commits to the process may withdraw at any point. Sessions will be voice-recorded and transcribed.
It is important that you understand that a process of this nature could evoke strong emotions and that there might be times when you need additional support in managing your feelings. At such a time I will refer you to a psychotherapist or psychotherapy service able to offer a free brief psychotherapeutic support, should you require this.
Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you may withdraw from participation at any point during the course of the study. Participation is confidential, albeit within certain limits. As sessions form part of a process of data collection for clinical research, the details of sessions will be shared with a research supervisor and research assistant. In addition, my aim is to write a small number of papers for publication in academic journals. All sharing of session records and information will be done with a strict undertaking on my part to keep your identity entirely anonymous. All identifying details will be disguised so as to cultivate an adequately fictionalized presentation of the data, for the sake of preserving your confidentiality. For the purposes of publication, I will write synopses of your participation in the form of clinical vignettes, in which the essence of your process will be conveyed in a carefully disguised form. Our sessions will be voice-recorded, with recordings stored on a private recording device. Recordings will be shared with a research assistant, who will undertake to comply with the ethical codes of conduct with respect to the session recordings. The research assistant will transcribe voice-recorded sessions into written documents, which will be sent to me as password-protected documents, for storage on my personal computer.
The proposal for the study has been submitted for ethical approval to the University of the Witwatersrand, Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC). Written approval has been granted, upon which basis I am proceeding with this research process. My commitment to you is to conduct myself in a manner that adheres strictly to the ethical guidelines set for me by the committee. If you would like to obtain more information regarding your rights as a participant, please visit www.wits.ac.za/Academic/Research/Ethics.htm.
If you and your family are interested in helping me by participating in this research, or if you would like to ask me for my information, please feel welcome to contact me using the details given above.
