| Object Relations in Severe Trauma: Psychotherapy of the Sexually Abused Child Contributor(s): Prior, Stephen (Author) |
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ISBN: 1568215541 ISBN-13: 9781568215549 Publisher: Jason Aronson OUR PRICE: $106.92 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 1996 Annotation: Dr. Stephen Prior's Object Relations in Severe Trauma: Psychotherapy of the Sexually Abused Child offers unique insight into the suffering and treatment of seriously disturbed, traumatized children. It outlines an object relational theory of the consequences of sexual traumatization as well as a detailed portrait of child treatment. By integrating a psychodynamic and relational understanding of psychic disorganization with a more contemporary account of trauma-induced anxieties, Dr. Prior gives an account of what he calls "the psychodynamics of trauma". Building upon the theoretical work of Ferenczi, Fairbairn, and Berliner, the author describes four basic relational patterns in the lives of abused children: the reliving of abusive relationships, either as victim or as perpetrator; identification with the aggressor; masochistic self-blame; and the seeking of object contact through sex or violence. The interweaving of these patterns creates what Dr. Prior calls "relational dilemmas". According to him, these four basic relational patterns are held in place by the child's profound fear of falling into primitive states of unrelatedness and consequent annihilation anxiety. The presence of such powerful and primitive anxieties is, state Dr. Prior, the fundamental reason that the treatment of interpersonal trauma is so long and arduous. In order to develop new object relations and consequent transformation of the self, the child must give up his attachment to his bad objects. Relinquishing the only internal objects he has ever had requires tolerating profound emptiness and coping with transferential fears of retraumatization by the therapist. He contends that the therapist must often enter theviolent and perverse sectors of the child's psyche in order to prevent an artificial "therapy of the good self", in which traumatic memories and identification with the aggressor are left out of treatment. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Psychology | Psychotherapy - Child & Adolescent - Psychology | Movements - Psychoanalysis - Self-help | Abuse |
| Dewey: 618.928 |
| LCCN: 95032752 |
| Physical Information: 0.78" H x 5.74" W x 8.41" (0.90 lbs) 204 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Building upon the theoretical work of Ferenczi, Fairbairn, and Berliner, the author describes four basic relational patterns in the lives of abused children: the reliving of abusive relationships, either as victim or as perpetrator; identification with the aggressor; masochistic self-blame; and the seeking of object contact though sex or violence. The interweaving of these patterns creates what Dr. Prior calls "relational dilemmas." According to him, these four basic relational patterns are held in place by the child's profound fear of falling into primitive states of unrelatedness and consequent annihilation anxiety. For example, the abused child believes that victimization by or identification with the bad object, no matter how horrible that may be, is preferable to the psychic disintegration that complete nonrelatedness creates. Dilemmas of this nature tear apart the child's psyche, leading to unstable and tormented models of self, other, and relationship. Object Relations in Severe Trauma provides sensitive understanding of childhood traumatization and a conceptual and technical framework for the treatment of patients-both children and adults-who have suffered from it. |