From Word Association Tests to Feeling-Toned Complexes. A Jungian Perspective on Trauma

In this paper, I would like to highlight how the view of the psyche as a network of complexes is central to understanding how trauma works and its treatment from a Jungian perspective. Despite Jung's theory of complexes and his study of the splitting processes of the psyche being at the very core of his understanding of psychic functioning, analytical psychology has struggled to find its proper place in the international debate on trauma. The Word Association Tests (WAT) opened the way to Jung's first insights on the complex psyche, i.e., a psyche made up of complexes. Currently, the complex is a cornerstone concept in analytical psychology; it is understood as the smallest functional unit of the psychic structure and can become autonomous when there is "a so-called trauma, an emotional shock or some such thing, that splits off a bit of the psyche" (Jung, 1934, para. 204). The work of Donald Kalsched on trauma and complexes has helped to further the debate on the role of the theory of complexes in Jungian analysis and practice. A clinical case is presented to highlight the functioning of the psyche when facing trauma and how analysis can work with split-off complexes throughout a whole analytic journey. Furthermore, similarities between the concepts of complexes-as seen in current analytical psychology-and emotional schemas as conceptualized by the Freudian analyst Wilma Bucci (2009) are highlighted.