ABSTRACT
Ordinary experience of family life such as the birth of a sibling can give rise to a traumatic disillusion following a period of idealised illusion. However at other times the trauma is real and violent and this produces even greater feelings of injustice and may be covered up by further phantasies of idealised times. This is illustrated in the injuries inflicted on the Infant Oedipus the significance of which were denied. A phantasy of an ideal family can serve as a defence against such trauma.
