Abstract
In his theory of trauma, Ferenczi points to the disbelief of adults of a child's account of an event as an actual traumatizing factor. Ferenczi also states that of all the consequences of the trauma, which include identification with the aggressor, psychic coma, departure from the possibility of dreams, and a fall to the hell of nightmares, the most important and fundamental is the lack of certainty of self. The disbelief of the adults destroys the certainty of what is perceived and experienced; it has the power of annihilating the child's belief in his own perceptions, his trust in his own senses. The loss of certainty of self appears to be a common characteristic in patients with distinct psychic dynamics. We will analyze the loss of certainty of self in cases of patients of the NEPECC (Núcleo de Estudos em Psicanálise e Clínica da Contemporaneidade) [Center of Studies in Psychoanalysis and Contemporarity Clinic] at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
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Notes
Research Center established by an agreement between IPUB—UFRJ Institute of Psychiatry and the Post-Graduate in Psychoanalytic Theory of UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) coordinated by Julio Verztman and Teresa Pinheiro.
Floresta De Miranda Confusion of languages (unpublished article) compares the original in German with the different translations of Ferenczi's work in English, French and the two in Portuguese, and suggests that the notion of contradiction in French and denial in Portuguese in the text “Child Analysis in the Analysis of Adults” be translated as disbelief. This suggestion seems the most adequate and shows us the dramatic violence of the trauma.
Here we opted to quote the version considered the best translation: Confusion of language between adults and children. In Pscyhoanalytic writings (1909–1933), Rio de Janeiro, Livraria Taurus Editora (1988).
Using the São Paulo version: “When the child, instructed by experience, begins to lose faith in his own omnipotence that he thought could satisfy all his desires—first merely by the strength of the desire, later through gestures and verbal signals—he little by little begins to suspect that there are ‘superior divine’ powers (mother and wet nurse) whose favors he must ensure so that the magical gestures may be effective. In human history this stage corresponds to the religious phase. It is the stage when man has learned to renounce the omnipotence of his own desires but not the idea of omnipotence. (…) But the disappointment suffered by the child's feeling of omnipotence is quickly followed by a disappointment concerning the potency and benevolence of the superior powers (parents, gods).” Ferenczi (1913) Faith, incredulity and conviction. In Psicanálise II. São Paulo: Martins Fontes (1992), pp. 29–30.
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1Ph.D., Doctor of Psychoanalysis from the University of Paris 7 with the thesis “Trauma theory in the work of Ferenczi” (1987); Professor, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Coordinator of the research team at NEPECC, Núcleo de Estudos em Psicanálise e Clínica da Contemporaneidade (Center of Studies in Psychoanalysis and Contemporaneity Clinic) (http://www.psicologia.ufrj.br/nepecc) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
2Ph.D., Doctor of Psychoanalytical Theory from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Psychology Professor at Polo Universitário de Rio das Ostras at the Fluminense Federal University Rio de Janeiro; Researcher at NEPECC (Center of Studies in Psychoanalysis and Contemporaneity Clinic).
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Pinheiro, T., Viana, D. Losing the Certainty of Self. Am J Psychoanal 71, 352–360 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2011.41
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2011.41