Patrick Casement, psychoanalyst and author of several books and numerous papers on clinical technique, most famously: On Learning from the Patient.

In The Emperor's New Clothes, Patrick Casement discusses power dynamics in psychoanalytic training that can patronise, pathologise and, ultimately, even dismiss students. Psychoanalytical theory is capable not only of drawing into the light, but also of eclipsing the reality of the person in its projection. What Casement describes in terms of group dynamics and narcissistic projection are issues that are common to all institutional trainings -- including schools (for children) -- and, potentially, in all relationships, so we can all learn something from his article, whether we are working with clients, students, children, or simply being with each other in daily life. 

​​Casement says, “…projection comes into play in the services of narcissism…”. If we are unguarded and unaware we risk walking in illusion and not seeing or giving space to the reality outside of ourselves and our “group”, be that a psychoanalytic society, training committee, or, I would add, staff-room friendship group, or beyond. It is the power dynamics of exclusion, of fascism (as I have written about elsewhere), to which we are all prey since it is an easy place for us to go to in our (unwitting, secondary personality) narcissism and insecurity. Casement shows how this is possible, and even normal, when we are inattentive.

​“We only said goodbye with words, I died a hundred times…”  

​As a human being, I have been in the situation of feeling “He’s killed me…”. Amy Winehouse, played beautifully by Marisa Abela, speaks these words from her heart, feeling utterly abandoned by Blake, in the 2024 biographical film of her life, "Back to Black".

Perhaps I’ve been in the other place too, of abandoning someone and leaving them feeling like I have killed them. Strong words… and yet, these things happen... people react, close their hearts and leave, and the people they leave also react, and feel destroyed.

Amy speaks straight into these places of raw feeling and deep, unconscious reaction, with her heart fully engaged in her music. Through her music and life, we feel all the tragedy and waste, “me and my head high and my tears dry… get on without my guy… you went back to what you knew... I’ll go back to black…”, especially as her life spirals into addiction and early death. We watch as Amy tumbles headlong into the turmoil of her dreams for love, marriage, family and relationship with “her Blakey”, ultimately un-achievable and insurmountable.

Bless Amy’s love for Blake, it’s a sacred love, and the pain she feels is universal. ​

And all the time, there is something earlier that is underlying, seemingly buried by both the film and by Amy herself: the nagging reality, less romantic, of difficult relationships with close caregivers. Amy’s loss of her Nan, the intimate relationship with her Nan, cuts into her reality and Amy doesn’t seem to survive this. She disintegrates into her coping strategies, previously successful: sublimation into her music and displacement into her love for her Blakey. Amy’s Nan gently telling her, “oh, I’m sorry. You liked him, didn’t you?” And Amy, simply being heard, “Yes Nan, I quite liked him a very lot.”

I have just come off a Tony Robbins ‘Ultimate Breakthrough Challenge’ and there was a lot of attention paid to ENERGY (every time this word was mentioned, it was in a HIGH ENERGY way). We did a lot of quick exercises to ‘prime’ the body to get the body moving and blood circulating to improve focus to ‘change state’ to feel good. We also had talks on nutrition and juicing to provide the body with essential nutrients and to flush out toxins. All of this is really good stuff and I have incorporated some of the quick-fire exercises into my daily routine. So far so good. Looking at it from my Chinese roots of ‘yin yang’, it occurred to me that this type of approach to how we maintain our energy level is a ‘yang’ way – more overt and action-oriented- POW, POW. 

Equally important is to be able to access ‘yin’ approaches to energy. If ‘yang’ is the more overt or extroverted way of managing our energy, a ‘yin’ approach is to be aware of what is covert, hidden or not obvious. For instance, residual trauma. We might think we have dealt with an event because my memories, thoughts and feelings have been sufficiently processed and ‘put to bed’ and it no longer holds any ‘charge’ for me. As Biodynamic Massage Therapists, we also know that sometimes possible that within the body, there is still some residual trauma held in the tissue, structure, fluid that we are not necessarily conscious of until we experience dysfunction. With the right listening and attuned touch,it is possible we can contact what is still held in the body and assist in enabling final releases. It is very interesting to me that these traces can be pesky, requiring patience and an alertness to when conditions are right for them to reveal themselves. Yin is also about waiting, resting, withdrawing and being in repose. Gentler exercises with awareness such as Qi Gung, some forms of yoga and meditative practices.

​Written by: Amy Barnes

Gut, The Inside Story of the Body's Most Underrated Organ -- a Book Review by Ruth Baigent

​In 2002, gene sequencing technology enabled science to identify microbes according to their genetic blueprint. This lifted the restriction on identifying microbes by culturing them on a Petri dish. Bacteria can now be identified dead from their DNA – for instance in the human stool.

Most gut bacteria do not bloom away from their native anaerobic environment and cannot be examined and identified by the old methods, so we are still ignorant of more than 60% of gut bacteria. (p236) Identification by genetic blueprint has enabled medical science to move into bacteria-related digestive health research in a big way. An explosion of new research (much of it seemingly using mice) has led the world of medicine to some dramatic re-thinkings on the role of bacteria in our lives: “we are gradually decoding processes which we used to believe were part of our inescapable destiny”, says Enders.(p204)

Over the last couple of years, there has been a proliferation of books like Gut which tend to be research led and written by fascinated and enthusiastic biologists and medical research doctors thriving on the possibilities for understanding that new research is enabling. Ten years ago, scientists tended to think that all humans had the same bacteria in their systems. New tests show us that this is far from true: our digestive systems are populated by billions of bacteria, 1000+ species, “plus minority populations of viruses and yeasts, as well as fungi and various other single celled organisms”(p140) which are uniquely our own.[i]