ABSTRACT
The concept of splitting of the ego is of great significance within psychoanalytic theory and leads to a profound restructuring of both metapsychology and clinical practice. Sigmund Freud uses "splitting of the ego" as a descriptive term in particular in order to point to the fact that the psychic apparatus is divided into systems and psychic agencies. Freud uses the concept of splitting as a conceptual instrument, in particular in the articles "Fetishism", An Outline of Psychoanalysis, and "Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence". The individual suffering from the memory of horror remains trapped by the memory of a traumatic past, which he cannot separate, or keep at a distance, from his conscious life. The re-signification of traumatic situations takes place throughout all the stages of life, because traumas have a memory of their own.
