This paper uses insights from contemporary neuroscience and attachment theory to explore the profound dissociative defences associated with trauma. I discuss the effects of trauma on the emotional, intellectual and imaginative life of the individual and on the development of the self. Based on work with three patients with very different experiences of trauma, the paper offers clinical illustration of ‘right brain to right brain’ Jungian analysis. I argue that through repeated transference and countertransference experiences dissociative defences may be undone and change brought about.