The Psychoanalytic Conception of Trauma in Ferenczi and the Question of Temporality

Abstract

A reciprocal and ongoing interaction about theory and clinical technique developed between Freud and Ferenczi in the years from 1908 to 1933. During the course of this ongoing dialogue, the concept of psychic trauma gradually transformed. Ferenczi continued to elaborate on this issue, and concluded with his work on the interaction of trauma and fantasy. Ferenczi initially refuted Freud's early trauma theses and finally conceptualized a metapsychological reformulation of trauma, an inverse development to Freud's formulations. Ferenczi highlighted two essential concepts in the theory and technique of trauma: the processes of identification and the splitting of the ego, while he stressed the enormous role of disavowal in the dynamics of trauma. The author hopes to demonstrate how Ferenczi's contributions added to developments of the concepts of disavowal and temporality, to the recovery of traumatic memory and the modification of the classical concept of interpretations.

Adverse childhood or adult experiences and risk of bilateral oophorectomy: a population-based case–control study

“…The lack of awareness of a past emotional trauma that strongly influences the current experiences is described as disavowal in the psychoanalytic literature and as experiential avoidance in the cognitive behavioural therapy literature. 40–43 For many women, disavowal may have been a key mechanism leading to a request for surgery, even when gynaecological symptoms were unexplained or considered to be minor by the medical providers. By accepting the woman’s request for surgery in the absence of a pathological indication, the physician may miss an important opportunity to help that woman understand the emotional and mental nature of her current symptoms.…”