FROM REAL TRAUMA TO AUTOAGGRESSION

In psychoanalytic traumatology today traumatizing is understood as som ething that happens in object relations; similarly, psychotrauma is in cluded in recent concepts of borderline personality disorders. In his first description of trauma-forced internalization (introjection and i dentification with the aggressor), Ferenczi has laid the foundation fo r understanding how external trauma changes into autoaggressive sympto matology and acting-out. Implantation of external violence is followed by its introjection, including the creation of a malignant heterogene ous introject, which now functions as a self-destructive internal forc e, causing feelings of guilt and worthlessness. The introject is also responsible for splitting and dissociation phenomena. The tension betw een introject and the other parts of the self can be reduced by assimi lating identification. Different kinds of trauma are: physical and psy chic maltreatment, sexual abuse, unmastered severe losses, emotional d eprivation (especially in early childhood), and unsolved real guilt. T ransgenerational transmission of trauma forms introjects in the follow ing generations. The function of the autoaggressive symptom can be und erstood as a creation of an object surrogate, which corresponds to the former traumatic object. In therapy one cannot expect that it will al ways be possible to bring all the traumatic destruction into the trans ference relationship.