Living in two narratives: psychic splitting in South African survivors of chronic trauma

Abstract

Chronic trauma, shame, and dissociation, as well as the relation between them, are acutely understudied, both in South Africa and internationally. Despite high levels of chronic trauma and shame-related psychopathology in South Africa in particular, research focusing on the relationship between these constructs remains lacking. In response to this gap in the literature, we conducted a qualitative study exploring experiences of chronic trauma, shame, and psychopathology in single interviews with 19 South African survivors of chronic trauma (intimate partner violence) using narrative analysis. The narratives of four of these women are presented and explored here. These women presented with both a concealed and shameful authentic self, and the socially conforming projected false self, two polarised parts of the psyche. Splitting is the foundation of dissociation. This research suggests that shame and dissociative splitting are part of the same psychological process. We would argue that a global pattern of negative self-evaluative responses associated with the authentic self – and the compensatory function of the false self – is the process underlying a shame-prone emotional style borne out of repeated exposure to trauma. Following this argument, chronically traumatised individuals are likely to have shame-based self-esteems and make use of dissociative splitting to protect the chronically injured psyche, which we would argue should be included as diagnostic criteria for all chronic trauma-based syndromes.