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To the Editor:
I am fascinated by Mrs. Lancaster's paper on “The Dreams of the Traumatic Neuroses” (Vol. 30, No. 1), specifically by her description of “the unconscious belief that some people do not die” and the illusion that one may be “the unique exception from the inevitability of death.”
We are familiar with the intense fear of death of many of our patients, as well as with other experiences within the neurotic and psychotic porcesses. Presently, I have been working with a psychotic patient who is, as he put it, “going through hell.” He is beside himself because he does not know how to cope with this.
Can we assume that severe emotional disturbances may bring about internal traumata of great intensity and that the escape from them and from the fear of death could lead to reactions similar to those described by Mrs. Lancaster as a consequence of external traumatic experiences?