OBJECTIVE: By the end of this unit students will have (1) a historical background to modern views on trauma, from railway spine and shell-shock to PTSD and their link with psychoanalytical models (2) An understanding of how trauma impacts on the mind (3) An awareness of how the impact of trauma is understood in the Lacanian tradition and what Ferenczi's contibution was.

Seminar 1

RAILWAY SPINE, PTSD AND BEYOND: A HISTORY OF TRAUMA
Friday 1 May 4.00 - 5.30pm

Dr Lionel Bailly

Trauma was a prevalent question in the second part of the 19th century. The understanding of trauma moved from an organic to a psychological model up to the development of the Freudian theory. In traumatic and war neuroses the human ego is defending itself from a danger which threatens it from without, writes Freud. We will look at how trauma was perceived at different epochs and how the concept evolved from the views of the 19 th century physicians to those of the first psychoanalysts and what are the modern perspectives on trauma today.

ESSENTIAL READING:

Introduction to psychoanalysis and the war neuroses, Sigmund Freud, SE 17 pages: 206-215 Folder

‘Counter attack’ a poem by Siegfried Sassoon Folder/Web

Seminar 2

THE PLACE OF TRAUMA IN FREUD’S THEORY OF NEUROSIS

Prof Rachel Blass

Friday 8th May 2.15-3.45pm

In a letter to Fliess on the 21 September 1897 Freud wrote: “I no longer believe in my neurotica …” introducing a first shift in the role of traumatic events in the development of neurosis. More developments were to come and from 'Mourning and Melancholia' to 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle' and ‘An Outline of Psycho-Analysis’ trauma stayed a rich and complex concept at the heart of Freud’s work.

ESSENTIAL READING:

Freud, S. (1897). Letter from Freud to Fliess - The Complete Letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess, 1887-1904, pp. 207-287 (PEP)

Freud, S. (1920) Beyond the Pleasure Principle. S.E. 18 pp. 12-23

Freud, S. ((1906) Early Psycho-Analytic Publications S.E. III pp.5-6

Freud, S. (1925) An Autobiographical Study, Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety, Lay Analysis and Other Works, S.E. XX pp. 33-36

Freud, S. (1930) Moses and Monotheism, S.E. XXIII pp. 122-132

Seminar 3

TRAUMA IN THE WORK OF FERENCZI

TBC

Friday 15 th May 2.15-3.45pm

Ferenczi was a medical officer during the First World War and his clinical observations of shell-shocked soldiers led to the development of quite original views on trauma. This concept remained at the heart of his clinical concerns and is mentioned in many of his publications.

ESSENTIAL READING:

Ferenczi S. (1921) Psychoanalysis and the war neuroses, pages 5-21

Ferenczi, S. (1932). Confusion of tongues between adults and the child.Int. J. Psychoanal., 30: 225-230, 1949

Seminar 4

A LACANIAN MODEL OF TRAUMA
Friday 22 May 2.15-3.45pm

Lionel Bailly

Trauma occurs when, overwhelmed with terror, an individual cannot work through an experience of chaos. Let down by language and the usual psychological defense mechanisms, the subject is left with the raw sensorial memory of the event which he/she will re-experience until it can change format and be stored as a memory. We will examine how concepts developed by Jacques Lacan can contribute to a model of psychological trauma that explain what aspect of an event has been traumatic and can guide the therapist in the treatment of these complex cases.

ESSENTIAL READING:
Bailly, L (2009) Real Symbolic, Imaginary, in Bailly, L. ‘Lacan, A beginners Guide’, One world, Oxford. Book in office

SUPPLEMENTARY READING:

Garland , C. (2004) Traumatic events and their impact on symbolic functioning. In: Levy, S. and Lemma, A. (Eds) The Perversion of Loss: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Trauma ( London, Whurr). Folder