Trauma of the vital order and reality principle:
considerations from the verse “But the matter of life was so thin”
Abstract
The paper explores the transition from the pleasure principle to the reality principle in the context of psychoanalysis, addressing the contributions of Freud, Ferenczi, Winnicott and Bion. Starting from Freud and passing through the contributions of Ferenczi, we arrive at the ideas of Winnicott and Bion to review the difficult passage with high traumatizing potential. The integration of Freud, Ferenczi, Winnicott, and Bion theories suggest that the vital order of the human life requires mediation and symbolization as a condition for non-traumatic acceptance of hostile and adverse reality. The capacity for representation and symbolization makes matter life thicker and able to withstand absences and adversities without resorting to shielding or anesthesia. Therefore, the passage to the reality principle need not be traumatizing, as long as there is a good object capable of transforming primitive emotional experiences. The article cites several important works, including works by Freud (1911, 1915, 1924, 1937), Ferenczi (1913, 1926), Bion (1956, 1957, 1962), and Winnicott (1945 1951, 1971).
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