Review
Object Relations in Severe Trauma provides the unusual amalgamation of solid scholarship, sound theoretical development, and detailed case examples of treatment of the seriously disturbed and traumatized child. Drawing from both his psychotherapeutic treatment of seriously disturbed boys who suffered multiple forms of neglect and abuse and from the work of Fairbain, Berliner, and Ekstein, Prior delineates an object relational theory of the consequences of the sexual traumatization of children that has implications for therapy. Students and practitioners will benefit from the illustrations of the psychological response to trauma in terms of the repetition of abusive patterns of relationship, identification with the aggressor, self-blame, and the seeking of object contact through sexuality or violence. This is probably one of the most valuable books for clinicians who provide therapy to sexually abused children from multi-problem families. — Judith L. Allpert
From the Back Cover
Dr. Stephen Prior’s Object Relations in Severe Trauma: Psychotherapy of the Sexually Abused Child offers unique insight into the suffering and treatment of seriously disturbed, traumatized children. It outlines an object relational theory of the consequences of sexual traumatization as well as a detailed portrait of child treatment. By integrating a psychodynamic and relational understanding of psychic disorganization with a more contemporary account of trauma-induced anxieties, Dr. Prior gives an account of what he calls “the psychodynamics of trauma”. Building upon the theoretical work of Ferenczi, Fairbairn, and Berliner, the author describes four basic relational patterns in the lives of abused children: the reliving of abusive relationships, either as victim or as perpetrator; identification with the aggressor; masochistic self-blame; and the seeking of object contact through sex or violence. The interweaving of these patterns creates what Dr. Prior calls “relational dilemmas”. According to him, these four basic relational patterns are held in place by the child’s profound fear of falling into primitive states of unrelatedness and consequent annihilation anxiety. The presence of such powerful and primitive anxieties is, state Dr. Prior, the fundamental reason that the treatment of interpersonal trauma is so long and arduous. In order to develop new object relations and consequent transformation of the self, the child must give up his attachment to his bad objects. Relinquishing the only internal objects he has ever had requires tolerating profound emptiness and coping with transferential fears of retraumatization by the therapist. He contends that the therapist must often enter theviolent and perverse sectors of the child’s psyche in order to prevent an artificial “therapy of the good self”, in which traumatic memories and identification with the aggressor are left out of treatment.
About the Author
Stephen Prior holds doctorates in both philosophy and psychology. After receiving his degree in psychology, he worked extensively with seriously disturbed children. Currently he is in private practice with adults and children in the greater Boston area.
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