title: Primitive processes, metaphor, and recognition in the treatment of traumatic loss.
abstract: This paper explores how traumatic loss and emotional abuse ruptured a patient's symbolic process and shattered her experience of the reality of her self. In treatment, metaphoric investigation of physical processes of expulsion and incorporation led to a transformation of projective identification into the containment she sought. The therapist's ability to metabolize pain, shame, and the risks of incestuous merger re-experienced in the treatment grew out of his recognition of disturbing experiences of his own that she brought to life. Mutual recognition, linked to the therapist's reverie, was a key treatment factor as both patient and therapist changed.
authors.affiliation: New York City Children's Center, Bronx, NY 10461, USA. william.ansorge@gmail.com
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ansorge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D004532:Ego; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D019365:Metaphor; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011385:Projection; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D014167:Transference, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult