Interpersonal Elements of Trauma and Culture

Abstract The role that culture plays in the consulting room has gained considerable attention from the psychoanalytic community over the last two decades. All members of the generation raised in Latin America during the 1970s share a common culture based on a history of military dictatorships and political repression. This paper explores the relationship between trauma and culture that developed during the course of a clinical treatment. In this instance, both patient and analyst experienced similar types of individual trauma during the military dictatorships of the 1970s in two different Latin American countries. These experiences provided a cultural and emotional link that served to deepen the therapeutic relationship between patient and analyst.