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Marilé Truscello de Manson, an Argentinian psychoanalyst, has long been interested in the consequences of mourning on the psyche and the body. Since the 1991 publication of her doctoral thesis, The Process of Mourning and Changes in Character, she has continued to fine-tune her clinical observations and deepen her theoretical reflections on the notion that what is not psychically elaborated leaves traces in the body. The significance of mourning and early fixations, combined with somatic pathologies, are the three principal axes of her book Mourning: Its Traces in Character and the Body.
The author highlights two areas: on one hand she explores the psychic processes at play in character formation and the transmission of trauma, while on the other she investigates the coexistence of addictions or psychosomatic pathologies. Such expressions of trauma lead her to include the problem of bodily disturbances or changes in the body as they pertain to character disorders. The latter pose a difficult challenge during the treatment of patients who do not take care of themselves but create difficulties by focusing on the external world.
Studies of character usually order the appearance of character traits or problems with identifications. In this book, however, de Manson proposes a new approach: she considers how the traumatic situation brings about changes in character. She highlights the economic factor and its role in the production of character traits embedded in pathological mourning.
In chapter 1, “The Ego and Defense Mechanisms in Character,” based on both Freudian and post-Freudian theory, de Manson explores the link between infantile trauma and ego defenses against drives and
eventual fixations. She emphasizes changes in character and their possible relationship with unresolved mourning.
In chapter 2, “Character Disorders: Irony as a Characteristic of Paradoxical Communication,” the author presents the clinical example of Silvana, who exhibited an ironic character diso