Symbolic ruptures: The speech and language of trauma
Item
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Title
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Symbolic ruptures: The speech and language of trauma
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:767673dc5d3c:10178
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identifier
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10387
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Creator
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Ioannou, Ioanna,
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Contributor
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Lissa Weinstein
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Date
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2009
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Clinical psychology | Communication | Jacques Lacan | Psychoanalysis | Representation | Sigmund Freud | Symbolization | Trauma
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Abstract
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This dissertation project is a theoretical examination of 'symbolic ruptures,' the traumatic disruptions in human experience that resist being represented in ordinary modes of symbolization. Insofar as the representation of such disturbing experiences is primarily non-verbal, it has been often relegated to the realm of the 'desymbolic.' This project attempts to re-conceptualize the forms and symptoms in which such experiences are expressed as an unconscious language and seeks to reinstate them back into the realm of the symbolic, thus creating a new imperative for their understanding.;While mainstream psychoanalytic literature has regarded symbolization as a representational process, this project expands the use of the term to connote the range of experiences and processes that connect the subject to the symbolic structures of a culture. In this sense, 'symbolic ruptures' not only affect one's capacity to represent extraordinary experiences in thought and in language, but they fundamentally disrupt the subject's link to the world. It is argued, however, that the symptoms of these ruptures---the recurring nightmares, the flashbacks, the hallucinatory experiences, etc.---remain symbolic in that they constitute an address to an other that seeks to be heard. While these symptoms may conceal or silence the traumatic event, their repetitive nature expresses the structure of the trauma. It is through the ruptures in the structure of the treatment and of the clinical setting, it is argued, that the structure of trauma may be accessed.;This theoretical framework, which is highly informed by French psychoanalysis and the work of Jacques Lacan, ultimately aims to expand the way we understand and work with experiences of trauma in the clinical setting. In undertaking this project, I also hope to challenge existing views on symbolization by deemphasizing the importance of verbal representation and recognizing the symbolic potential in the non-verbal language of symptoms.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
