ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what happens when someone psychically collapses into himself or herself instead of projecting outward into the world or into a receiving other. Trauma that includes a non-containing caretaker evokes the experience of the psychic Black Hole – experiences of sign and signal, not symbol. The Black Hole marks a deficit in the ability to symbolize. Primitive signs and signals are used for self-regulation. The Black Hole represents states of meaninglessness and nothingness.
