ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates what happens to the individual when the event leading to the traumatisation is a real, man-made event, that is, it is not due to a natural catastrophe. It focuses on a traumatic relationship, or a kind of attachment generating confusion, chaos and fear. The chapter also investigates what happens at a neurobiological level to a child living in an abusive and violent or invalidating environment and what are, as a consequence, the implications for psychotherapy, focusing particularly on the consequences that adverse conditions in child rearing have for society at large. It aims at investigating what happens when the violence or the abuse remains inscribed in the individual body and mind, both on a subjective and interpersonal level, and how it is transferred into the subsequent generations. The chapter considers trauma in the context of real abuse, from psychological and physical abuse to sexual abuse and incest.
