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In this paper we will describe the case of Colin, a 31/2-year old boy who suffered significant trauma of a nonsexual nature, which occurred in the context of his primary attachment relationship. The case was the subject of an extended previous communication devoted to a psychodynamic understanding of gender identity disorder of childhood (Coates, Friedman, and Wolfe, 1991). Here we present the case, not with special reference to issues of gender, but as seen through the particular lens of trauma. Colin's traumatization can be conceptualized as having two different components, one entailing the precipitous loss of the emotional availability of his primary caretaker and the other entailing physical confrontations, experienced as potentially life-threatening, when he tried to reestablish contact with her. Beyond this, the case also touches on the issue of the cross-generational transfer of trauma.
To be noted at the outset is that neither what has been documented of Colin's traumatization nor the cross-generational issues involved in it were sexual in nature. Why present such a case in a special issue devoted to the topic of sexual abuse? Our hope is that by identifying