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Mended by the Muse: Creative Transformations of Trauma by Sophia Richman (2014) is at once a deeply personal account and a contemporary psychoanalytic meditation on trauma. The book is concerned with “the art of trauma,” the creative process arising out of the effort to cope with traumatic experiences. Deftly moving between theory, practice, and personal experience, Richman explores the different forms that trauma takes across generations and between individuals, but also the fluctuating and shifting nature of individual experience within each person, across space and time, in a manner that respects and highlights the complex ways in which the human mind can experience itself. Stemming from the relational psychoanalytic tradition, the book expands the function of dissociation, which is commonly perceived as a pathological hallmark of trauma, and illuminates instead its creative potential. According to Richman, dissociated states that are summoned with the intent and purpose of engaging in creative pursuits may, in fact, allow the trauma survivor to repair the damaged link to the world. The imaginary figure of the muse accompanies the survivor in this process, and serves a mothering function that helps sustain the survivor's need to communicate. Richman's theoretical formulations are rooted in her personal history of transforming trauma through artistic creation, and draw on her clinical experiences with traumatized patients who turn to the arts as a way of working through, as well as the experience of artists who attest to the therapeutic value of their creative process.
True to its emphasis on creativity, the book is itself a creative synthesis of various modes of writing, which range from a theoretical review of psychoanalytic literature on creativity, to lively renderings of clinical material, intimate accounts of autobiographical and biographical narratives, interviews with artists, a case study of Jung's creativity, reflections on mortality, a self-reflection on