Discussion of Dominique Scarfone's Trauma, Subjectivity, and Subjectality*

Scarfone's (2021) in-depth scrutiny of the nature of trauma and its impact on the ego2 invites debate from different theoretical perspectives. In my discussion, I will reference Ferenczi's ideas on the impact of trauma on the developing ego, as he outlined in The Confusion of Tongues (COT) (1933) and The Clinical Diary (1932).

The major rift between Freud and Ferenczi occurred over Ferenczi's presentation of COT at the 1932 Wiesbaden IPA conference. Freud had asked Ferenczi not to present his paper which purported to rehabilitate trauma as central in the cause of psychopathology. This flew in the face of orthodox psychoanalytic theory that anxiety was interpreted as a signal to the ego that UCS drive derivatives were surfacing from the Id, and anxiety was experienced as a result of the preconscious awareness of repressed unconscious phantasy. Subsequently, Ferenczi's works were vilified and like Adler, Jung, and Rank before him, he became marginalized in the psychoanalytic canon of literature. But, re-examining his works today reveals a wealth of clinical and theoretical research and theorizing especially in the treatment of regressed and severely traumatized patients that can be quite useful to the practicing clinician.