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Trauma has been central to the theories of aeteology and the techniques of psychoanalysis since the beginnings of the movement. Almost no other aspect of psychoanalytic theory has been argued about as much as the theory of trauma and the techniques used to ‘undo’ or ‘work through’ traumatic events.
On the theory of the origins of hysteria, Freud and Breuer stated:
… the causal relation between the determining psychical trauma and the hysterical phenomenon is not of a kind implying that the trauma merely acts like an agent provocateur in releasing the symptom, which thereafter leads an independent existence. We must presume rather that the psychical trauma—or more precisely the memory of the trauma—acts like a foreign body which long after its entry must continue to be regarded as an agent that is still at work. (Breuer, J & Freud S, 1893)
As the theory evolved and shifted from the actual event of seduction to its phantasy, Freud added the complex and controversial notion of the death instinct, and the theory of repetition compulsion became central to the metapsychology and technique:
A condition has long been known and described which occurs after severe mechanical concussions, railway disasters and other accidents involving a risk to life; it has been given the name of ‘traumatic neurosis’. The terrible war which has just ended gave rise to a great number of illnesses of this kind. (Freud, S. 1920)
The question of why painful experiences are repeated has held sway through the evolution of analytic theory.
The work of Khan on cumulative trauma (1963), and Kohut on developmental traumas arising from failures of empathy, have led to intense arguments about theory, but more significantly, to controversial discussions about the techniques and goals of analytic work. Much of the discussion of unrepresented and unsymbolised states of mind is focused on early trauma and its impact on the mind’s ability to form and symbolise experiences. This has led to both creative and at t