Healing Estranged Sorrows
Daniel Boscaljon
Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies May 16, 2026 DOI: 10.29173/jjs376s (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Embodied cognition Relation database Sorrow Event particle physics Feeling Epistemology Aesthetics Psychoanalysis |
| Key points | Argues that 'estranged sorrows'—trauma without a single causal event—emerge from blocks to somatic learning and can be resolved through embodied engagement and the somatic imagination. |
Abstract
This article builds on the work of Peter Levine to argue for an embodied approach to trauma that has no single causal event or definitive ongoing cause of harm. These “estranged sorrows” emerge based in blocks to learning that occur throughout one’s life, either through a lack of meaningful relation in early development or through being raised in an environment anchored in a cultural complex. The phenomenological approach highlights both the emergence of estranged sorrow and how learning—a somatic process—can help to resolve this trauma. The article concludes by building on theories of learning that highlight how embodied engagement and the somatic imagination provide a form of rehabilitation important for trauma that is otherwise difficult to name or place.