ABSTRACT
It is ironic the treatment of psychological trauma has come full circle back to the seminal trauma theories of the late 1800s – to Janet, Breuer and Freud, and, somewhat later, to Ferenczi. These early trauma theories, along with new theoretical findings and applications, now form the basis of contemporary trauma treatment. Significant parts of the history of psychoanalysis’s treatment of trauma parallel the subjugation and negation of the abused child’s subjectivity. The emergence of interpersonal and relational psychoanalysis contributed to psychoanalysis’s recovery and hence a greater opportunity for traumatized people to find their own voices. This chapter traces the evolution of interpersonal-relational psychodynamic treatment of trauma and dissociation, including the attempted, but ultimately failed silencing of such relational traumatologists as Ferenczi. We incorporate challenges to Freud’s Oedipal theory, which had the catastrophic effect of denying real unconscionable behavior as fantasy. We explore the antecedents of relational theory in object relations and interpersonal theories, and the contributions from attachment theory and the neurosciences as major components effecting generative therapeutic action. Our exploration displays how trauma victims were unable to integrate into everyday consciousness the memory and meaning of unconscionable acts perpetrated on them.
