The self in pain: the paradox of memory. The paradox of testimony

American Journal of Psychoanalysis
Robert Prince

Abstract

Using the 7-year psychotherapy of a Holocaust survivor, this paper explores the sometimes contradictory aspects of approaches to trauma. Conceptualizing a "self in pain" as an alternative to contemporary conceptualizations of the traumatized person as having a damaged, dissociated or collapsed self leads to a corresponding alternative clinical approach. The paradoxes of traumatic memory and testimony necessitate an adaptational emphasis and the emergence of a "doubled" in contrast to a dissociated self. The decision to respect this "doubled" self involves a privileging of "reality" over "psychic reality" which then, paradoxically enables this patient to develop a phantasy life.

References

Jul 30, 2004·Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances·Frank Horst, James A Nunley
Oct 2, 2009·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Robert Prince

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Citations

Jan 4, 2013·Journal of Trauma & Dissociation : the Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD)·Nirit Gordon
Jun 3, 2014·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Maria Ritter
Sep 12, 2015·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Robert M Prince
Apr 5, 2017·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Jô Gondar
Mar 23, 2017·American Journal of Psychoanalysis·Marcelo N Viñar

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