Ferenczi's Confusion of Tongues Theory of Trauma

Arnold Wm. Rachman and Clara Mucci provide a detailed examination of the significance of Sándor Ferenczi's paradigm shifting theory of trauma, the Confusion of Tongues, and confirm its relevance for the psychoanalytic theory and analysis of trauma today. As the first alternative to Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex, Ferenczi's Confusion of Tongues theory expanded the theoretical and clinical boundaries of psychoanalysis to establish that psychological trauma as a result of childhood sexual abuse and trauma experiences are a significant contributing factor to the development of psychological disorders. The authors address the lack of attention paid to the significance of sexual abuse trauma to understanding psychological ill health in psychoanalysis, and integrate the latest research on neurobiology to demonstrate how Ferenczi's theory is meaningful to understanding many aspects of human behavior today. This work will be formative to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists both in training and in practice and provide renewed insight into the treatment of childhood sexual abuse and psychological trauma.

Arnold Wm. Rachman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and relational psychoanalyst who has contributed to the recovery of the life and work of Sándor Ferenczi and the Budapest School of Psychoanalysis. Clara Mucci, PhD, professor of Psychodynamic Psychology at the University of Bergamo, Italy, is the author of several books on Shakespeare, psychoanalysis, trauma and personality disorders.

1. The Origin of Ferenczi's Confusion of Tongues Concept in the Biblical Narrative of the Tower of Babel 2. Ferenczi's Presentation of the Confusion of Tongues Paper, The 12th International Psycho-Analytic Congress, Wiesbaden, Germany, September, 4, 1932 3. Freud's Diagnosis of Sándor Ferenczi as having a "Pseudologia Fantastica" Disorder 4. Freud's Denunciation of Ferenczi and The Confusion of Tongues: His Self Analysis, "Emotional Blindness" and Pathologizing Ferenczi 5. Traditional Psychoanalysis's Totschweigen Campaign to Silence the Confusion of Tongues Paper 6. The Confusion of Tongues Between Freud and Ferenczi 7. Ferenczi's Alternative Confusion of Tongues Theory: Expanding the Psychoanalytic Perspective to Include Trauma 8. Confusion of Tongues Contribution to the Evolution of Theory and Method in Psychoanalysis 9. Confusion of Tongues and the Language of Sexuality (Arnold Wm Rachman and Paul Mattick) 10. A Contemporary View of Analyzing Childhood Sexual Trauma 11. The Confusion of Tongues Between Freud and Dora 12. The Analysis Between Sándor Ferenczi and Elizabeth Severn: Origin of the Confusion of Tongues Paradigm and Trauma Analysis 13. The "Two Person Psychology": The Necessity to Extend the Freudian Theory to the Reality of the Interpersonal Traumatic Development (Clara Mucci) 14. Three Levels of Human Agency and the Problems of the Diagnostic: Statistical DSM Categories for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Clara Mucci) 15. Therapy for Trauma of Human Agency: "What Has Been Damaged in a Relationship Needs to be Healed in a Relationship" (Clara Mucci) 16. The Analysis Between Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud: A Confusion of Tongues 17. The Confusion of Tongues of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson: A First Person Account of Captivity in Colonial America 18. The Confusion of Tongues Trauma In An Abducted Child: The Case of Elizabeth Smart 19. The Confusion of Tongues Trauma Between Franz Kafka and His Father