Why Ferenczi?

Known for his willingness to take on “difficult” cases, Sandór Ferenczi developed an original theory of traumatogenesis, based on the notion of disavowal (Verleugnung) of the unspeakable pain of the subject traumatized by the other, to whom he turns in search of testimony, recognition and reparation.His subtle understanding of the fact that psychic trauma causes the subject to identify with the aggressor, followed by a narcissistic split, indicated the need to rethink clinical practice according to a psychoanalytic ethic of care. Ferenczi developed an emphatic style that was not only the main inspiration for some of the later developments in Freud’s conception of clinical practice, but was also significant for the work of authors such as Winnicott and Lacan, for whom the psychic work of the analyst is included in the process of working-through in analysis.