The Trauma of Transgression
Psychotherapy of Incest Victims
Selma Kramer(Author)
Jason Aronson Publishers
Published on 1. July 1977
Book
Hardback
200 pages
978-0-87668-554-9 (ISBN)
Description
Has there been an actual increase in the occurrence of incest? Or is the seemingly, greater frequency due to our increased awareness of incest and more careful listening to our patients? The psychoanalysts contributing to this volume take the latter position. They discuss various aspects of incest, the occurrence of which they agree is always traumatic to its victim. Incest occurs in dysfunctional families and often in the setting of multiple traumatic factors. In cases of parent-child incest, one parent is the perpetrator and the other, by silence or absence, unwittingly colludes with the former. While an individual with early sexual trauma may have a certain self-reliance, ambition, perseverance, and tenacious pursuit of self-knowledge, the fact remains that incest is inimical to normal, healthy development. It leads to profoundly deleterious effects, including lifelong guilt, sadomasochistic tendencies, defects of self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, and vulnerability to psychosomatic phenomena, accidents, injuries, depression, and even suicide.
It is therefore extremely important to be able to recognize the phenomenological and psychodynamic configurations suggesting that incest has occurred in the individual's past. Such knowledge enables therapist to be more alert to the nuances of transference and countertransference, leading to be heightened empathy and to more precise and helpful interpretations. The contributors to this book highlight, with the help of detailed clinical illustrations, various cues of incest-related psychopathology. They discuss the transference manifestations of such patients and, in an extremely helpful manner, clarify the subtleties in treatment technique. By so addressing the phenomenon of incest, this book makes an important inroad into the prevention and amelioration of the profound psychic trauma - the trauma of transgression - caused by the use of a child's body for the sexual gratification of the parent.
It is therefore extremely important to be able to recognize the phenomenological and psychodynamic configurations suggesting that incest has occurred in the individual's past. Such knowledge enables therapist to be more alert to the nuances of transference and countertransference, leading to be heightened empathy and to more precise and helpful interpretations. The contributors to this book highlight, with the help of detailed clinical illustrations, various cues of incest-related psychopathology. They discuss the transference manifestations of such patients and, in an extremely helpful manner, clarify the subtleties in treatment technique. By so addressing the phenomenon of incest, this book makes an important inroad into the prevention and amelioration of the profound psychic trauma - the trauma of transgression - caused by the use of a child's body for the sexual gratification of the parent.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Northvale NJ
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
467 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-87668-554-9 (9780876685549)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
Psychopathological Effects of Incest, Selma Kramer; Psychopathology of Incest Participants, Brandt F. Steele; The Unresolved Rapprochement Crisis, An Important Constituent of the Incest Experience - Discussion of Dr Steele's Chapter, "Psychopathology of Incest Participants", Ruth M.S. Fischer; Parent-Child Incest - Analytic Experiences with Follow-Up Data, Marvin Margolis; Complexities in the Etiology and Treatment of Incest-Related Psychopathology - Discussion of Dr Margolis' Chapter, "Parent-Child Incest - Analytic Experiences with Follow-Up Data", Salman Akhtar; Psychical Transformations by a Child of Incest, Maurice Apprey; Victims of Incest - Discussion of Dr Apprey's Chapter, "Psychical Transformations by a Child of Incest", M.Hossein Etezady; The Technical Handling of Incest-Related Material, Selma Kramer.