A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma

A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma presents a theory of the nature of trauma and post traumatic mental functioning based on the concept of the 'zero process'.

Autorentext

Joseph Fernando is the director of the Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis, Canada. He has had a full-time psychoanalytic clinical practice, and taught and supervised students, for over 30 years. He is a Gradiva award winning author and has published widely and presented his ideas internationally.

Klappentext

A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma presents a theory of the nature of trauma and post-traumatic mental functioning based on the concept of the 'zero process'. Joseph Fernando presents a novel, comprehensive, and clinically useful theory of trauma. The author first presents theories of trauma and describes the zero process, related to the breakdown of various ego functions, such as memory and integration, during trauma. Rather than replacing Freud's ideas of the primary process and repression, Fernando expands on the idea of the mind to include both types of functioning, identifies how they can be differentiated, and examines the different therapeutic techniques they require. He also considers how trauma impacts the construction of reality, the role of human development, the relation of trauma and borderline disorders, and the development of therapeutic technique. Through the unique illustration and narration of cases of three patients, Fernando presents conceptual and clinical innovations. A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in training.

Inhalt

Series Editor's Foreword by Gabriela Legorreta

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Traumatic Process

Lack of preparedness, and being overwhelmed

Triggers, repetitions, and conversion symptoms

Repression, dissociation, and ego shut down

Fixation to trauma

Overwhelming from outside versus overwhelming from inside

Chapter 2 Trauma, the Zero Process, and the Construction of Reality

Traumatic memories and the construction of reality

The zero process, the primary process, and the secondary process

Some applications: mourning, intergenerational transmission of trauma, and internal objects

A trip down memory lane

Chapter 3 The Zero Process Drive and Zero Process Defenses

The zero process drive

Repression

Dissociation

Zero process denial and temporal shifting

Dissociative identity disorder and splitting of the identity

Chapter 4 The Relation of Borderline Disorders to Trauma

The zero process, the primary process, and the secondary process revisited

Dynamics, deficits, and development in borderline disorders

Repression, Internalization, and trauma

Projective identification, identification with the aggressor, and splitting of the identity

Chapter 5 Therapeutic Technique in Analyzing Post-Traumatic States

Approaching the zero process

The relation of the analysis of the zero process to the analysis of other phenomena

The central post-traumatic complex

Summary

Conclusion

Glossary

References

Index