Trauma by omission: Treating complex attachment dynamics in a Chinese woman

  • This paper presents a case of >trauma by omission< as a product of the attachment process. The absence of intimate and specific recognition and response by the caretaker of a child can create, by their omission, a >freeze< version of the fight/flight/freeze trauma response. The frozen moments, then dissociated, can become confusion and paralysis at the cusp of adulthood. This state is illustrated in the case below of a 23-year-old Chinese woman being treated by a 29-year-old Chinese male psychoanalytic fellow. The role of cultural context in >omission< is highlighted regarding development and treatment, which is taking place in a Communist society with a recent violent history of extinguishing individuality, modifying how attachment and individuation are expressed. A relational/interpersonal treatment orientation is applied and advocated at this intersection of individual and social realities. This paper contributes to attachment theory by raising awareness of how its many forms and outcomes may or may not be deemed healthy and functional.

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Metadaten
Author:Judith Rosenberger, Han Feng
Parent Title (English):International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 28 (No. 3, 2019), pp. 180-186.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2019
Release Date:2020/11/03
Format:PDF-scan upon request / PDF-Scan auf Anfrage
IdNo:Rosenberger_J_Feng_H_2019
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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