You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Not without the Other
In his research on testimonies about the Holocaust, Dori Laub isolated the ‹ inner thou ›, a sense of an internalised presence. This ‹ inner thou › reveals itself through an internalised gaze and internal interlocutor. Laub described the link between the disappearance of the ‹ inner thou › and some well-known phenomena in psychological trauma: lack of a coherent narrative, being overwhelmed by sensory impressions, inability to connect with others. Whereas the ‹ inner thou › appears to be linked to a social context, in psychotherapy for trauma it is precisely the presence of a real Other that can bring about the recovery of this internalised presence. The situation is illustrated through a clinical vignette.