The controversial discussions and après-coup
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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

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Published on: March 12, 2018
1London, UK. rperelberg@perelberg.com
Abstract:
The author suggests a distinction between what is descriptively named après-coup, and what is dynamically identified as après-coup. This parallels Freud's distinction between the descriptive unconscious and the dynamic unconscious in the topographical model of the mind. The descriptive après-coup refers to the way in which the concept has found a use, especially but not only in the French literature, to refer to retrospective signification in the moment-to-moment progress of a session. The author outlines dynamic après-coup and she suggests it is at the core of Freudian metapsychology. Dynamic après-coup establishes a link between trauma, castration, repetition compulsion, sexuality and temporality in the context of the transference.
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