Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Self in Pain: The Paradox of Memory. The Paradox of Testimony

The Self in Pain: The Paradox of Memory. The Paradox of Testimony 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. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Springer Journals

The Self in Pain: The Paradox of Memory. The Paradox of Testimony

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis , Volume 69 (4) – Dec 1, 2009

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/the-self-in-pain-the-paradox-of-memory-the-paradox-of-testimony-AFWAcJa20j

References (19)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by Palgrave Macmillan
Subject
Psychology; Clinical Psychology; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis
ISSN
0002-9548
eISSN
1573-6741
DOI
10.1057/ajp.2009.19
pmid
19949376
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

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.

Journal

The American Journal of PsychoanalysisSpringer Journals

Published: Dec 1, 2009

There are no references for this article.