Trauma and representation

This paper explores the impact of trauma on the capacity for representation. Profound trauma hobble the mind's ability to represent (give meaning to) emotional experience, which results in a diminished capacity for thinking, the breakdown of symbol formation and the emergence of concrete modes of cognition. The author begins with Freud's (1920) views on the nature of trauma, in particular his notion of a protective shield (Reizschutz) that envelops the psyche, and moves on to current theories that address the object relational aspects of this 'shield,' with a specific focus on the importance of an internal parental couple (Brown, 2011; Herzog, 2005) as a vital component of that protective shield. In addition, a theory of trauma from a Bionian perspective is offered that builds on two previous papers of the author (Brown, 2005, 2006) which are augmented by contributions from the French Psychosomatic School. Lastly, an extensive clinical vignette from the analysis of an adolescent male is offered to illustrate the near total collapse of his psychic functioning and a compensatory regression to a psychosomatic world.