Trauma, healing and the reconstruction of truth

The author analyzes recent developments in trauma theory, made necessary especially after the massive psychic traumas following World War II and the Shoah. The theories of Freud and Ferenczi are analyzed, especially, their different views of reality and their clinical attitude. When working with survivors of any trauma (from incest to genocide) it is necessary to reconstruct the historical details as carefully as possible, with the appropriate timing. Psychoanalysis is therefore viewed as an ethical and political practice similar to testimony, allowing the reconstruction of truth within the community and interrupting the cycle of the death instinct from one generation to the next.