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Dr. Fernando treats us to a precise description of what trauma is and what it is not. In a professional climate where classic Freudians look toward metapsychology, but aficionados of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) exclude pathology and etiology, his contribution is a welcome clarification that should aid all therapists, school systems, workers’ compensation referees, lawyers, and judges. He also proposes a sophisticated theoretical viewpoint on trauma that will make the most experienced psychoanalysts pleasurably and comfortably rethink what they had thought previously about the issue.
Dr. Fernando explains that trauma comprises what he aptly terms “zero process,” which includes the following three elements:
An external event occurs to any person—adult or child.
The external event causes a severe, overwhelming affective response, including painful depressive affect, rage, and fear. In those over age 6, of course, guilt may be generated as well.1