CUMULATIVE PSYCHIC TRAUMA, OF INTERPERSONAL NATURE, BETWEEN DEFINITIONS AND CLINICAL CONTEXT

Abstract

The following work begins with the ample psychopathological literature which affirms the relationship between traumatic experiences and disorders of the integrating functions of memory, consciousness and identity. Starting from some reflections on the definition of trauma, focusing on the attention on the trauma of interpersonal nature and child maltreatment, we propose some themes that recur, articulate and intertwine in the complex discussion on how the trauma acts: the implied self, the arousal and the traumatic emotions, the attachment and the dissociation, the identification with the aggressor, the neurophysiological and neuroendocrine impairment and the neurological development in the traumatic situation. The circumstances surrounding the cumulative trauma of interpersonal nature, traumatic development, emotional neglect, identified as the conditions from which the most serious dysfunctions originate, are considered later. The final part deals with some clinical aspects related to the distortions presented by suffering patients for post-traumatic adaptation outcomes and possible therapeutic attitudes