A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma: Post-Traumatic Mental Functioning, the Zero Process, and the Construction of Reality

A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma presents a theory of the nature  of trauma and post-traumatic mental functioning based on the concept of  the ‘zero process’.

Joseph Fernando presents a novel,  comprehensive, and clinically useful theory of trauma. The author first  presents theories of trauma and describes the zero process, related to  the breakdown of various ego functions, such as memory and integration,  during trauma. Rather than replacing Freud’s ideas of the primary  process and repression, Fernando expands on the idea of the mind to  include both types of functioning, identifies how they can be  differentiated, and examines the different therapeutic techniques they  require. He also considers how trauma impacts the construction of  reality, the role of human development, the relation of trauma and  borderline disorders, and the development of therapeutic technique.  Through the unique illustration and narration of cases of three  patients, Fernando presents conceptual and clinical innovations.

A  Psychoanalytic Understanding of Trauma will be of great interest to  psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in practice and in  training.