Systemic Cultural Oppression: Traumatic and Dissociative Effects

Heather Hall, MD

Dr. Hall is a board-certified adult psychiatrist. She has over thirty years of experience. She combines her expertise in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy in developing a treatment plan tailored to the needs of each individual. Before establishing her private practice, Dr. Hall was an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF and then UC Davis. She is currently on the board of directors of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation and specializes in the treatment of complex trauma. Dr. Hall is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton MA. She completed her medical training at Drexel University in Philadelphia PA and her psychiatric training at The Institute of Pennsylvania hospital, also in Philadelphia.

Rick A Hohfeler, PsyD

Dr. Richard Hohfeler received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in 1986. He is a clinical psychologist who has maintained a private practice in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area for the past 30 years. Dr. Hohfeler has specialized in psychological trauma since 1988 as co-manager of an inpatient program treating survivors of abuse at Rogers Memorial Hospital where he also co-managed an inpatient program treating children and adolescents. He continues to treat adults, children, and adolescents suffering from disorders associated with severe developmental trauma in private practice, as well as with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Dr. Hohfeler is a faculty member of the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he teaches courses in trauma and dissociation. He is a member of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), has presented at their annual conferences, and was elected to their Board of Directors in 2016. Since 2014 he has acted as moderator for the Virtual Book Club sponsored by ISSTD. Dr. Hohfeler has provided supervision and consultation to therapists and case managers from a variety of agencies in the Milwaukee area for the past 20 years. His consultation affiliations have expanded internationally through his active involvement with the ISSTD professional organization. In 2018 he published an article entitled “Relationally-Based Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Prison: Processes of Control, Shame, and Dissociation.”

Susan Gutwill, MS, LCSW

I have an AbD in Sociology and taught in inner city community colleges and at Rutgers University. In 1980, I got an MSW from Rutgers University. During my tenure at Rutgers and subsequently, I worked in a labor union counseling members and retirees. Five years later I trained at and helped build the Women’s Therapy Centre Institute, where I learned and taught psychodynamic work. The WTCI is an Institute that does not separate the personal from the political, and my work there continues. For decades, I have been an active member of APA Division for Psychoanalysis, Section 9: Psychoanalysis for Social Responsibility. I long been involved in the study and treatment of trauma and dissociation and specialize in a) how as it creates distorted body image and eating problems of all types as well as b) how traumatizing political, social and cultural realities affect individuals and groups. I just returned from a US/UK Palestinian Network for Mental Health.

Sandi Cardaman