Tamara Fischmann
International Psychoanalytic Berlin, Klinische Psychologie, Faculty Member
- Sigmund-Freud-Institut, Research, Faculty Memberadd
- Professor for clinical psychology and psychoanalysis.edit
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Traumen erfullt integrative und adaptive Funktionen und ist ein multifunktionales Geschehen, das die Aspekte der Erinnerungskonsolidierung, der Stressregulation, der Affektverarbeitung, des Problemlosens, der Wahrung der korperlichen und... more
Traumen erfullt integrative und adaptive Funktionen und ist ein multifunktionales Geschehen, das die Aspekte der Erinnerungskonsolidierung, der Stressregulation, der Affektverarbeitung, des Problemlosens, der Wahrung der korperlichen und psychischen Gesundheit sowie eine Funktion der Wunscherfullung einschliest. Posttraumatische Zustande sind durch Intrusionsphanomene gekennzeichnet, zu denen haufig Traume zahlen, deren Material sich auf die ursprunglichen traumatisierenden Erfahrungen bezieht oder an sie erinnert. Traumatische Traume lassen sich als Versuche auffassen, Tagesreste von intensiven Emotionen zu verarbeiten, in denen sich innere Reprasentanzen traumatisierender Erfahrungen widerspiegeln und bei denen kein Containment moglich war. Dieser Artikel stellt Ergebnisse einer Schlaflabor-Studie vor, in der traumatische Traume von Uberlebenden der Balkankriege mit zwei qualitativen Methoden untersucht wurden. Eine Gruppe mit manifester posttraumatischer Belastungsstorung (PTBS) ...
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Book synopsis: This book looks at dreams from a twenty-first century perspective. It takes its inspiration from Freud’s insights, but pursues psychoanalytic interest into both neuroscience and the modern psychoanalytic consulting room.... more
Book synopsis: This book looks at dreams from a twenty-first century perspective. It takes its inspiration from Freud’s insights, but pursues psychoanalytic interest into both neuroscience and the modern psychoanalytic consulting room. The book looks at laboratory research on dreaming alongside the modern clinical use of dreams and links together clinical and empirical research, integrating classical ideas with the plurality of psychoanalytic theoretical constructs available to modern researchers.Psychoanalysts writing about dreams have traditionally represented the cutting edge of clinical and theoretical development, and this book is no exception. Many of the contributions, as well as the epistemological position taken by the writers, represent a kind of radical openness to new ways of thinking about the clinical situation and about theory. In line with the ambition of the editors, this volume represents an integration of theories and disciplines, and a scientific context for mode...
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An einer chronischen Depression erkrankte Patientinnen und Patienten gelten oft als schwer behandelbar. Häufig hängt die chronische Depression mit schweren traumatischen Erfahrungen zusammen. Das in diesem Band vorgestellte... more
An einer chronischen Depression erkrankte Patientinnen und Patienten gelten oft als schwer behandelbar. Häufig hängt die chronische Depression mit schweren traumatischen Erfahrungen zusammen. Das in diesem Band vorgestellte Behandlungsmanual berücksichtigt diese Gegebenheit und legt den Fokus auf traumatisierte, chronisch depressive Patientinnen und Patienten. Der Band beschreibt einleitend das Störungsbild und das diagnostische Vorgehen und erläutert die Grundannahmen des psychoanalytischen Verständnisses von Depression. Anschließend geht es um grundsätzlichere behandlungstechnische Aufgaben sowie um spezifische Herausforderungen in psychoanalytischen Langzeitbehandlungen mit chronisch depressiven, früh traumatisierten Patientinnen und Patienten, wie z.B. Suizidalität, Aggression und Schuld. Die ausgeführten therapeutischen Grundhaltungen und Behandlungsprinzipien werden jeweils anhand von konkreten Fallbeispielen veranschaulicht. Die Wirksamkeit des vorliegenden Manuals konnte in einer Studie zu Langzeittherapien bei chronischer Depression (sog. LAC-Depressionsstudie) gezeigt werden.
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Physical separation from caregivers activates attachment-related behaviors. However, neural underpinnings of this biological mechanism in humans and their development are poorly understood. We examined via functional MRI brain responses... more
Physical separation from caregivers activates attachment-related behaviors. However, neural underpinnings of this biological mechanism in humans and their development are poorly understood. We examined via functional MRI brain responses to pictorial representations of separation as a function of attachment-security, attachment-avoidance, and attachment-anxiety measured using the Child-Attachment-Interview, in 30 typically developing children (9-11 years). Attachment-related stimuli elicited enhanced activation in the precuneus, temporoparietal junction area, and medial superior frontal gyrus (described as mentalization network). More negatively rated attachment stimuli yielded increased activity in the inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/ACC. Furthermore, ACC responses to attachment-related as compared to control stimuli were positively correlated with attachment-security and negatively correlated with attachment-avoidance. Our findings suggest that processing of separation cues elicits increased mentalization-related processing in children and activation of the salience network with increased negative valence of stimuli. Avoidant vs. securely attached children differentially activate ACC-dependent processes of affective evaluation.
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Research Interests: Humanities and Art
This work is a literature review on the use of psilocybin in psychotherapeutic treatment of mental illnesses. The review answers the question of what opportunities and risks are associated with the use of the psychoactive substance... more
This work is a literature review on the use of psilocybin in psychotherapeutic treatment of mental illnesses. The review answers the question of what opportunities and risks are associated with the use of the psychoactive substance psilocybin. Peer-reviewed studies between 2017 and 2022 were included. Nine studies were found regarding the following indications: tobacco addiction, anxiety and depressive states related to life-threatening cancer, as well as treatment-resistant depression. A rapid clinical improvement of various symptoms was observed. The greatest evidence for the use of psilocybin was found in treating tobacco addiction and anxiety and depression related to life-threatening illnesses. No serious adverse events were reported in the studies. However, current studies have limitations, such as small sample sizes, difficulties with blinding, and a treatment population considered non-representative. The results are not representative but provide indications of effective tre...
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Traducido por Paola Jarast del original en inglés publicado con el título Comunicación especial ¿Qué puede contribuir el psicoanálisis a la actual crisis de refugiados?, en Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 98(4), 6:1168–1188. Todos los derechos... more
Traducido por Paola Jarast del original en inglés publicado con el título Comunicación especial ¿Qué puede contribuir el psicoanálisis a la actual crisis de refugiados?, en Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 98(4), 6:1168–1188. Todos los derechos reservados. Traducción autorizada de la edición en idioma inglés publicada por John Wiley & Sons Limited. La responsabilidad por la exactitud de la traducción es responsabilidad exclusiva del Instituto de Psicoanálisis y no responsabilidad de John Wiley & Sons Limited.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Routledge
Coping with modern technology (genetics, biotechnology etc.) has become a major issue of people living in the 21st century. This technology creates new chances and possibilities but also new dang ...
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Children who live on the margins of society are disadvantaged in achieving their developmental potential because of the lack of a necessary stable environment and nurturing care. Many early prevention programs aim at mitigating such... more
Children who live on the margins of society are disadvantaged in achieving their developmental potential because of the lack of a necessary stable environment and nurturing care. Many early prevention programs aim at mitigating such effects, but often the evaluation of their long-term effect is missing. The aim of the study presented here was to evaluate such long-term effects in two prevention programs for children-at-risk growing up in deprived social environments focusing on child attachment representation as the primary outcome as well as on self-reflective capacities of teachers taking care of these children. The latter was a key component for promoting resilient behavior in children. Five hundred and twenty-six children aged 36 to 60 months at risk due to immigration status, low family socio-economic status and child behavior were examined in a cluster-randomized study comparing two preventions, the psychodynamic, attachment-based holistic approach EARLY STEPS (ES) with the cl...
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Studies in adults with mental disorders suggest that the experience of early and chronic trauma is associated with changes in reward expectancy and processing. In addition, severe childhood trauma has been shown to contribute to the... more
Studies in adults with mental disorders suggest that the experience of early and chronic trauma is associated with changes in reward expectancy and processing. In addition, severe childhood trauma has been shown to contribute to the development of mental disorders in general. Data on effects of early childhood trauma on reward expectancy and processing in middle childhood currently appear insufficient. The present study aims to fill this research gap by examining the effects of developmental trauma disorder (DTD) on reward expectancy and processing in children aged 8–12 years, testing the hypothesis that children with multiple complex traumas exhibit altered reward processing as a result of prior disappointing reward experiences. One main feature of developmental trauma disorder is early experiences of multiple separation from important and close relationships alongside other experiences of emotional or physical harm. In the sequel children often show affect regulation disorders. To...
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... Abstract. Hardly any other debate in the history of child psychiatry has aroused so much acrimony as the controversy about the causes of ADHD, the explanatory models advanced to explain it, and the possibilities for treating... more
... Abstract. Hardly any other debate in the history of child psychiatry has aroused so much acrimony as the controversy about the causes of ADHD, the explanatory models advanced to explain it, and the possibilities for treating youngsters affected by it. ...
Research Interests: Philosophy and Psyche
The early prevention project “Strong together!” supports refugee parents and their young children (0–4 years) in Berlin, Germany. It aims to mitigate the transmission of trauma to the generation born in exile. For refugee families who... more
The early prevention project “Strong together!” supports refugee parents and their young children (0–4 years) in Berlin, Germany. It aims to mitigate the transmission of trauma to the generation born in exile. For refugee families who have only recently arrived in Germany, the COVID‐19 pandemic poses a particularly great challenge. Not only are they confronted with numerous challenges in respect to re‐building their lives in Germany after fleeing war and persecution, but are also vulnerable to conscious and unconscious anxieties, fantasies, and conflicts evoked by the pandemic and the threat it poses to their lives. This was observed in the context of the mother–child groups of “Strong together!”. Many expressed great insecurity, heightened levels of anxiety, re‐experiencing of traumatic scenes, and over‐strictly self‐isolating themselves and their children, even attraction to fundamentalist ideologies. In this paper, some of the empirical and clinical findings of “Strong together!”...
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Based on clinical experiences, results of the Frankfurt Prevention Study and arguments taken from a current interdisciplinary dialogue between psychoanalysis and neurobiology the authors discuss that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity... more
Based on clinical experiences, results of the Frankfurt Prevention Study and arguments taken from a current interdisciplinary dialogue between psychoanalysis and neurobiology the authors discuss that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) always has to be understood as a product of complex interactions of (mostly unconscious) idiosyncratic, biographical, relational, institutional, societal as well as neurobiological, neurophysiological, and genetical factors. This is one reason why the authors think that psychoanalysis with its unique conceptualizations to understand psychic realities as products of such a complex intertwining of unconscious and reality factors, taking into account biological as well as societal roots of human behavior, could be regarded as one of the best available psychotherapeutic approach nowadays which is capable to deal theoretically and therapeutically with children suffering from ADHD. Psychoanalysis offers an alternative (with longlasting positive ...
Research Interests: Psychology, Psychology of Unconscious, Treatment Outcome, Medicine, Psychoanalytic Theory, and 12 moreHumans, Child, Female, Social Environment, Risk factors, Risk Factors, Frontal Lobe, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Psychoanalytic Therapy, Combined Modality Therapy, Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, and Central nervous system stimulants
In Germany the gap between children growing up in privileged conditions and those living in poverty on the fringe of society is widening. Neglect and violence in early childhood may lead to future psychosomatic and mental illnesses such... more
In Germany the gap between children growing up in privileged conditions and those living in poverty on the fringe of society is widening. Neglect and violence in early childhood may lead to future psychosomatic and mental illnesses such as depression and addiction. Therefore it deems necessary to provide early interventions to children, their parents, and caretakers in institutions in socially challenged neighborhoods, in order to prevent socio-emotional disturbance in children at risk. How this can be done, will be exemplifi ed in this paper by the EVA study (Evaluation of two prevention programs in early childhood care centres with children-at-risk) in which two prevention programs – “Early Steps” and “Faustlos” (“Without fi sts”) – are implemented in early childhood care centers (ECCCs) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The EVA study was conceptualized as a longitudinal cluster randomized study, where the ECCCs – randomly chosen on the basis of a representative baseline survey condu...
Research Interests: Psychology and Medicine
Inzwischen liegt eine grose Anzahl randomisierter Studien vor, die die Wirksamkeit fruher Pravention belegen. Doch wie die AutorInnen, ausgehend von einem Fallbeispiel einer Psychoanalyse mit einem Spatadoleszenten mit... more
Inzwischen liegt eine grose Anzahl randomisierter Studien vor, die die Wirksamkeit fruher Pravention belegen. Doch wie die AutorInnen, ausgehend von einem Fallbeispiel einer Psychoanalyse mit einem Spatadoleszenten mit Migrationshintergrund und multiplen fruhen Traumatisierungen, diskutieren, konnen solche Wirksamkeitsstudien nur wenig uber das komplexe Ineinanderwirken von protektiven und Risikofaktoren in der Fruhentwicklung aussagen. Die Psychoanalyse dagegen hat aufgrund ihrer breiten klinischen und extraklinischen Forschung fruchtbare Erklarungsansatze anzubieten, wie anhand psychoanalytischer Konzepte zur fruhen Objektbeziehungserfahrungen, Trauma und Resilienz dargelegt wird. Das Sigmund-Freud-Institut (SFI) hat in enger Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institut fur Analytische Kinder und Jugendlichen-Psychotherapie (IAKJP) in Frankfurt/M. verschiedene Fruhpraventionsprojekte initiiert. In einer Stichprobe eines dieser Projekte, der EVA-Studie, fanden die AutorInnen mittels des MCAST (...
Research Interests: Research Design, Poverty, Treatment Outcome, Anxiety, Germany, and 15 moreSocial behavior, Child Behavior, Humans, Aggression, Female, Male, Risk factors, Clinical Sciences, Time Factors, Risk Factors, ANXIETY, Social Behavior, Child preschool, Cardiovascular medicine and haematology, and Residence Characteristics
ting as the place where the psychotic part of the personality can exist and can be named. The capacity to listen to the patient is transformative and signals symbolic representation as an alternative to concrete and primitive thinking, as... more
ting as the place where the psychotic part of the personality can exist and can be named. The capacity to listen to the patient is transformative and signals symbolic representation as an alternative to concrete and primitive thinking, as Dr Romano highlighted when referring to her work with her patient whose trauma imprisoned him in sterility and frozen sexuality. One member of the audience helpfully reminded us that what is unrepresented produces an effect. The countertransference effect and receptivity of the analyst demands intimacy with one’s own and with the patient’s mind. To conclude, this was an interesting panel highlighting the important and difficult work in helping patients move from enactments and somatization through to symbolization.
Children who live on the margins of society are disadvantaged in achieving their developmental potential because of the lack of a necessary stable environment and nurturing care. Many early prevention programs aim at mitigating such... more
Children who live on the margins of society are disadvantaged in achieving their developmental potential because of the lack of a necessary stable environment and nurturing care. Many early prevention programs aim at mitigating such effects, but often the evaluation of their long-term effect is missing. The aim of the study presented here was to evaluate such long-term effects in two prevention programs for children-at-risk growing up in deprived social environments focusing on child attachment representation as the primary outcome as well as on self-reflective capacities of teachers taking care of these children. The latter was a key component for promoting resilient behavior in children. Five hundred and twenty-six children aged 36 to 60 months at risk due to immigration status, low family socio-economic status and child behavior were examined in a cluster-randomized study comparing two preventions, the psychodynamic, attachment-based holistic approach EARLY STEPS (ES) with the cl...
Alexander Mitscherlich hat sich immer wieder mit den Ambivalenzen auseinandergesetzt, die mit dem rasanten medizinisch- technischen Fortschritt verbunden sind. Die Autorinnen stellen sich in diese Tradition, wenn sie den Umgang mit... more
Alexander Mitscherlich hat sich immer wieder mit den Ambivalenzen auseinandergesetzt, die mit dem rasanten medizinisch- technischen Fortschritt verbunden sind. Die Autorinnen stellen sich in diese Tradition, wenn sie den Umgang mit solchen Ambivalenzen im Zusammenhang mit pranataler und genetischer Diagnostik untersuchen. In einer europaweiten Studie haben sie ein noch weitgehend tabuisiertes Thema aufgegriffen: die Moglichkeit der Eltern, uber Leben und Tod eines eigenen, vielleicht behinderten Kindes zu entscheiden. Eine Fragebogenuntersuchung und rund 100 Interviews mit Betroffenen in Deutschland, England, Griechenland, Italien, Israel und Schweden zeigten, das viele der Betroffenen diese Entscheidungssituation nicht nur als Uberforderung, sondern als eine traumatisierende Situation erleben. Die Daten, die in den psychoanalytischen Interviews sowie in 1900 umfangreichen Fragebogen in den partizipierenden Landern gewonnen wurden, bildeten die Basis eines intensiven interdisziplina...
One of prominent features related to the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is according to DSM-5 “recurrent distressing dreams in which the content and/or affect of the dream are related to the traumatic event(s)”. The phenomenology... more
One of prominent features related to the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is according to DSM-5 “recurrent distressing dreams in which the content and/or affect of the dream are related to the traumatic event(s)”. The phenomenology and the underlying dynamics of traumatic dreams are areas of study that still need to be understood.
Psychoanalytisch-klinische sowie experimentelle Traumforschung vertiefen unser Wissen uber psychische Wahrnehmungs-, Bearbeitungs- und Gedachtnisprozesse. Befunde aus neurophysiologischen Untersuchungen des Gehirns und aus... more
Psychoanalytisch-klinische sowie experimentelle Traumforschung vertiefen unser Wissen uber psychische Wahrnehmungs-, Bearbeitungs- und Gedachtnisprozesse. Befunde aus neurophysiologischen Untersuchungen des Gehirns und aus psychologisch/psychoanalytischen Untersuchungen des psychischen Erlebens erganzen sich gegenseitig. Der Entwurf einer Neurobiologie des Traumens mit Hilfe neurophysiologischer Untersuchungsmethoden berucksichtigt die mit Schlaf und Traum verbundenen physiologischen Prozesse. Moglichkeiten aber auch Grenzen der im Grenzgebiet zwischen Psychoanalyse und Neurowissenschaften angesiedelten Traumforschung werden diskutiert; es wird auf den Kategorienfehler hingewiesen, neurophysiologische Befunde als kausale Erklarungsbasis fur psychologische Prozesse anzuwenden. Anhand von eigenen Forschungsbeispielen wird gezeigt, wie fMRT-Bilder Informationen uber physiologische Aktivierungsprozesse im Gehirn enthalten, aber nur als korrelative Phanomene zu verstehen sind, die psychi...
The development of psychoanalysis as a science and clinical practice has always relied heavily on various forms of conceptual research. Thus, conceptual research has clarified, formulated and reformulated psychoanalytic concepts... more
The development of psychoanalysis as a science and clinical practice has always relied heavily on various forms of conceptual research. Thus, conceptual research has clarified, formulated and reformulated psychoanalytic concepts permitting to better shape the findings emerging in the clinical setting. By enhancing clarity and explicitness in concept usage it has facilitated the integration of existing psychoanalytic thinking as well as the development of new ways of looking at clinical and extraclinical data. Moreover, it has offered conceptual bridges to neighbouring disciplines particularly interested in psychoanalysis, e.g. philosophy, sociology, aesthetics, history of art and literature, and more recently cognitive science/neuroscience. In the present phase of psychoanalytic pluralism, of worldwide scientific communication among psychoanalysts irrespective of language differences and furthermore of an intensifying dialogue with other disciplines, the relevance of conceptual rese...
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Although psychoanalysts are interested in symptom reduction as an outcome, they are looking for instruments to measure sustaining changes in the unconscious mental functioning. In this article it is discussed that conceptually... more
Although psychoanalysts are interested in symptom reduction as an outcome, they are looking for instruments to measure sustaining changes in the unconscious mental functioning. In this article it is discussed that conceptually well-founded transformation of manifest dreams analyzed with precise empirical methods could be considered as a promising indicator for such therapeutic changes. We are summarizing a dream generation model by Moser and von Zeppelin which has integrated a large interdisciplinary knowledge base of contemporary dream and sleep research. Based on this model the authors have developed a valid and reliable coding system for analyzing manifest dreams, the Zurich Dream Process Coding System (ZDPCS). One exemplary dream from the beginning and one from the third year of a severely traumatized, chronic depressed patient from the LAC Depression Study collected in psychoanalytic sessions as well as in the sleep laboratory have been analyzed applying the ZDPCS. Authors hypo...