The Influence of Trauma and Other Factors on the Choice of a Helping Profession Using the Example of the Body-Oriented Therapist

Person devotes a significant part of adult life to professional activities. The choice of professional direction is a symbolic expression of both internal and external conflicts, as well as other processes that have occurred and exist in the life of the subject. Beginning with S. Freud, psychoanalytic theorists have described a set of interdependent and interrelated concepts that allow us to consider the range of conscious and unconscious motives associated with the choice of profession. Mental trauma received at the stage of development of the subject, as well as factors such as castration anxiety, inhibition, envy, shame and guilt, identification and counter-identification with primary objects not only influence, but form a professional path in adulthood. The concepts discussed in this work emphasize the important role of early childhood in later working life. In the empirical part of the final qualifying work, the case of a body-oriented therapist is analyzed. Using the example of the described case, it observes how early childhood traumas led to the choice of a helping profession, which indirectly confirms the hypothesis considered in the theoretical part of the work. From the point of view of practical significance, the materials and conclusions drawn in the work will be useful for psychoanalytic therapists and specialists involved in career guidance activities.