Traumatic moment, basic dangers and annihilation anxiety.

Hurvich, Marvin

doi:10.1037/0736-9735.6.3.309

Cited by 12 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…Major dimensions along which virtually all survival-related concerns can be grouped include fears of being overwhelmed, merged, disintegrated, penetrated, or abandoned, fears over survival, and the presence of a catastrophic mentality (Hurvich 1989;Benveniste et al 1998). Factors that increase the likelihood of annihilation anxieties are traumatic experiences, ego function weaknesses, and threats to self-cohesion (Hurvich 1989), as well as a prevalence of disorganized and insecure attachment styles (Main and Solomon 1990;Diamond in press). Correspondingly, the presence of annihilation anxieties, especially during early developmental stages, tends to increase the likelihood of these very factors.…”

Section: The Place Of Annihilation Anxieties In Psychoanalytic Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Place of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory

Hurvich

2003

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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Survival-related clinical reports are abundantly found in the works of classical, object-relational, and self psychological writers, but are underrepresented in major theoretical formulations on anxiety. Fears of being overwhelmed, merged, penetrated, fragmented, and destroyed, as contents of unconscious and conscious fantasies, are regularly interrelated with the typical dangers. Fifteen preliminary propositions invite closer study of such apprehensions and provide definitional components. Annihilation anxieties are triggered by survival threat; are found early but can be engendered throughout the life cycle; constitute a basic danger; are residuals of psychic trauma; have specifiable subdimensions; may occur in presymbolic form or be associated with fantasies in conflict/compromise formation; may arise with or without anticipation; may be accompanied by controlled or uncontrolled anxiety; are motives for defense; and may be associated with particularly recalcitrant resistances. The study of annihilation anxieties in relation to the basic danger series has both theoretical and clinical advantages, especially for understanding traumatic, anxiety, phobic, psychosomatic, addictive, narcissistic, borderline, and psychotic manifestations, as well as sexual problems (including perversions), nightmares, dissociative and panic states, and especially difficult resistances.

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Section: The Place Of Annihilation Anxieties In Psychoanalytic Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Place of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory

Hurvich

2003

J Am Psychoanal Assoc

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“…129-137, pp. 161-166) and others (Alvarez, 1997;Hurvich, 1989;Meissner, 1984;Pine, 1974;Rinsley, 1978;Robbins, 1976) have found out that in borderline patients and in other patients in whom the phenomenon of splitting is diagnosed, the ego functions are defective and do not suffice to provide the needed protection. Most of the findings show the exact opposite of what an individual needs in his/her primary socialization to develop ego functions sufficiently.…”

Section: Primitive Idealizationmentioning

confidence: 92%

Do we need the concept of “splitting” to understand borderline structures?

Zepf¹

2012

The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review

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“…Loss and its relation to anxiety have, however, been theorised more intricately in the corpus of work produced by Anna Freud and subject to empirical testing in the work of Marvin Hurvich and colleagues (Hurvich, 1989, 2003; Hurvich and Freedman, 2011a, 2011b; Hurvich et al, 2007, 2013). Anna Freud’s (1936/1966) research about fear, anxiety and the structure of defences came to focus upon children who had experienced separations from their parents during and after World War II.…”

Section: Loss and Annihilation Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We explore the development of contemporary relational psychoanalytic thinking with regard to fears of annihilation that often inform responses to crime and the desire to criminalise. We draw attention to the work of Marvin Hurvich (and colleagues) (Hurvich, 1989, 2003; Hurvich et al, 2007, 2013; Hurvich and Freedman, 2011a, 2011b), the contemporary psychoanalyst who has done most to elaborate the concept of annihilation anxiety empirically, and author of the Hurvich Experience Inventory, a normed and validated measure of instinctual fear of annihilation. In this article we demonstrate the criminological application of the seven subscales of this metric and assess the nature of annihilation anxiety.…”

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confidence: 99%

Annihilation anxiety and crime

Robinson

Gadd

2015

Theoretical Criminology

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This article explores the psychoanalytic construct of annihilation anxiety in order to develop a more thoroughgoing engagement between criminological theory and contemporary psychoanalysis. Though a few criminologists have commented on crime, scapegoating and retribution using classic psychoanalytic ideas, we bring Hurvich's current empirical work on annihilation anxiety to the discourse. Beginning with his definition of annihilation anxiety as 'fears of being overwhelmed, merged, penetrated, fragmented, and destroyed', we apply Hurvich's measures to reactions to crime and insecurity and interpersonal, collective and international crime. We discuss doing criminology interpretively, applied to the dynamic connections between crime and reactions to it, including political and policy responses. We conclude that criminologists could and should help distinguish between potential and imminent threats, to advance a post-positivist approach to crime and other security threats. We argue that such an approach moves criminology toward a social science more humane and pragmatic for its conscious engagement with unconscious fears harboured amidst the purportedly rational calculi of justice.

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Traumatic moment, basic dangers and annihilation anxiety.

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

The Place of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory

The Place of Annihilation Anxieties in Psychoanalytic Theory

Do we need the concept of “splitting” to understand borderline structures?

Annihilation anxiety and crime

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