ABSTRACT
The concept of psychic trauma or injury has been associated with psychoanalysis from its beginnings. Sigmund Freud's work on melancholia gave rise to different developments in psychoanalysis. Melanie Klein described the details of the struggle to come to terms with separation and loss in normal development. Many analysts have followed winnicott in being interested in the effect of pre-verbal trauma on the individual's development. Psychic injury can occur during childhood development when serious disruption occurs in the primary relationship between mother and child. The stage of psychosexual development at which the trauma has occurred may be represented in an individual's character by symptoms which have their roots in fixations around that particular developmental stage. This chapter describes the case of a woman where a traumatic phase during her early development led to a serious disturbance of her personality, which overshadowed her positive capacity for relationships and her considerable creative abilities.
