A core phantasy in violence

In this paper the author develops the hypothesis that for some patients there is a core phantasy in their violence that is related to their beliefs about their own procreation. Drawing on her experience of trying to understand and treat psychoanalytically one such patient, the author illustrates how it may be possible to apprehend that there is a pattern in which violence is exercised, a plot or narrative that allows the underlying phantasies to be identified. The violent act tells a story, which is a personal myth of creation and contains both pre-oedipal and distorted oedipal theories. These ideas are then discussed in the context of Freud's writings on violence [Heftigkeit] as well as in relation to a second particularly violent patient.