ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the difference that exists, according to the author, between breakdown, which may result in psychotic decompensation, and developmental rupture, which instead indicates a developmental crisis. The latter may appear severe to the clinician or family members, however, if treated with care, these situations can unfold positively. In fact, when favourable conditions occur, such ruptures may evolve by opening the patient to creative developments in his or her personality.
The author examines what happens when the breakdown explodes. She considers psychotic onset as the organisation of family and transgenerational traumatic links, further comparing Freud's Gradiva and Uncanny, offering rich clinical examples in support of her hypotheses.
