This paper is a theoretical study of psychic trauma which differentiates "massive infantile trauma (Freud's todesangst; Stern's "biotrauma") from more common "near-trauma" states observed in adults. The full-blown traumatic state is seen initially in adults as ego surrender to unavoidable danger; it is followed by a specific regressive series: anxiety, catatonic state, aphanesis (phylogenetically programmed "self-destruct" mechanism), and psychogenic death. In both forms, affective intolerance and constrictive character result.