At Lost Stories, we use a variety of techniques and frameworks to help clients process their traumatic experiences based on the principle that each persons unconscious has a capacity to craft sublime poetry with infinitely intimate meanings. Vamık Volkan’s work on linking objects offers one way to consider how an object can carry a relationship that remains difficult to mourn. (Volkan, 1972)
Volkan, a Turkish psychoanalyst, explored how physical objects can become charged with a person’s relationship to someone who has died. These objects act as a bridge between our conscious and unconscious mind and can be used to access deep-seated emotions and memories.
In therapy, linking objects can be used to help clients process traumatic events or complex relationships through symbolic representations. The therapist may ask the client to identify an object that represents the traumatic experience or relationship and then use this object to explore the client's emotions and experiences.
For example, a person may bring a seashell that recalls both a particular place and a frightening experience involving water. That is an illustration, rather than a prescribed Volkan technique. The work would follow the person’s associations and pace, without requiring them to relive the event or find a meaning supplied by the therapist.
Linking objects can also be used to foster positive emotions and connections. For example, a client who has lost a loved one may choose a favorite photograph or piece of jewelry to represent that relationship. The therapist may encourage the client to talk about positive memories associated with the object or to create new positive memories by engaging in activities while holding or wearing the object. The work may also include demarcation, which is to use the object to set a boundary between the patient and the representation of the dead so that they ritualize a turn back towards life and its meaning.
Using linking objects in therapy can be a powerful tool for helping clients process complex emotions and experiences. At Lost Stories, we are committed to using a wide variety of established therapeutic techniques to help our clients achieve emotional growth.
An object can become a place to begin when words are difficult. As its meanings unfold in a listening relationship, an experience that was felt but unformulated may become more thinkable. (Stern, 1997)