Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 6, 2026

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
Symbols and self preservation in severe disturbance
Abstract:
The author considers a particular way in which symbolic functioning and the sense of self fail in certain cases of severe disturbance. When containment of the infant fails, the experience is a violent one. If the infant is projected into by an 'invasive object', the infant can incorporate this experience both as a bodily and a proto-mental registration. The experience then remains within the psyche-soma and subsequent development is built 'around' the consequences of the trauma. Clinical illustrations are provided to demonstrate this phenomenon in the analytic setting.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Deindividuation
Ecological Disturbance
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
Need for Self-Esteem
Protecting Self-Esteem

