ABSTRACT
“Infantile Trauma, Therapeutic Impasse, and Recovery”, describes how the psychic struggle to exist or not is held in the body. When emotions bypass the symbolization process and reside as bodily processes, they cannot be thought or remembered consciously, yet are primitively represented. This chapter, using Ferenczi and Bion as theoretical background, explores the clinical development of impasse in the treatment of hard-to-reach patients. These patients are problematic for analysis because they are not self-reflective, although they can be addicted to “processing” in lieu of emotional connection. Impasse occurs when the analyst does not detect the mimicry involved in the processing. The chapter offers the idea of recovery, rather than repair, in that such patients have “gone missing” in infancy. Recovery of lost potential can be found in relationship with the analyst and with significant others.
