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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'.
List of contents
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
About the author
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.
Summary
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’.
