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ABSTRACT
In this article, the author uses the astrophysical term of the ‘black hole’ to describe the subjective feelings of patients who have experienced trauma in their inter-personal relationships, such as sudden separation or adultery. Such experiences are actually breakdowns that occurred in the past, but were not fully experienced. The fall into a black hole represents a deep regressive state in which the patient encounters a psychic deadness that he or she has tried to avoid. Presencing and therapeutic passion on the side of the therapist can help them to survive and confront dissociated self-states. Recovery from a black hole experience relies on physical and psychic aliveness, which are facilitated by the analytic setting.
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David Potik
David Potik is a clinical criminologist and PhD candidate at the Department of Criminology at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He works in a day care psychiatric department and in the Adelson clinic for the research and treatment of drug abuse. David has published articles on psychotherapy, addictions, and psychopathology, and authored a book entitled Psychodynamic Approaches for Treatment of Drug Abuse and Addiction in 2020.