Survivor guilt: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical features

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to give the reader an overview of several theoretical, empirical, and clinical features of survivor guilt, and to integrate recent contributions of psychodynamic theory and, in particular, of control-mastery theory into the understanding of the concept alongside the latest findings in social psychology about it. After introducing the concept of survivor guilt and its origins in clinical observations on the consequences of having survived severe traumas (e.g., internment in concentration camps), we will discuss the findings in social psychology on the concept of survivor guilt in everyday social interactions, which is based on a conception that does not connect it strictly to severe traumas. We will then focus our attention on clinical observations and empirical research studies about survivor guilt, discussing the hypotheses developed by several control-mastery theorists about its role in psychopathology. Finally, we will illustrate some manifestations of survivor guilt with a brief clinical vignette.

Key words:

• survivor guilt
• self-punishment
• traumas
• psychopathology
• control-mastery theory

Notes

1 This case was in treatment with Francesco Gazzillo. The clinical material has been disguised.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ramona Fimiani

Ramona Fimiani, PsyD, clinical psychologist and PhD student at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, is a member of the Control Mastery Theory Italian Group (CMT-IG). Her main research interests are linked to psychoanalysis, control-mastery theory, and their application in clinical work.

Francesco Gazzillo

Francesco Gazzillo, PhD, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, is associate professor of dynamic psychology at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He is member of the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Public Sector (EFPP), a member of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and a member of Divisions 29 and 39 of the American Psychological Association. He is also member of the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group (SFPRG). He is author of several scientific papers published in national and international journals and author of the following books: Fidarsi dei pazienti. Introduzione alla Control Mastery Theory (Trusting patients. Introduction to control mastery theory; 2016); Sua maestà Masud Khan (His Majesty Masud Khan; 2008); I sabotatori interni (The internal saboteurs; 2012); Sigmund Freud. La costruzione di un sapere (Sigmund Freud. The construction of a knowledge; with Francesca Ortu, 2013); and La personalità e i suoi disturbi (Personality and its disorders; with Vittorio Lingiardi, 2009). Together with Nino Dazzi and Vittorio Lingiardi, he edited the volume La diagnosi in psicologia clinica (The diagnosis in clinical psychology; 2009), and he was section editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2).

Nino Dazzi

Nino Dazzi, PhD, is professor emeritus of dynamic psychology at Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy, past-president of the Italy Area Group of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and has been dean of the Faculty of Psychology at Sapienza, University of Rome and Sapienza’s University pro-rector. He is member of honor of the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), and a member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP), and was also Italian ambassador of the European Science Foundation. He has written several scientific national and international papers and volumes, including Psicologia Dinamica (Dynamic psychology; with Alessandra De Coro, 2001); La ricerca in psicoterapia (Research in psychotherapy; edited with Vittorio Lingiardi and Antonello Colli, 2006), and La diagnosi in psicologia clinica (The diagnosis in clinical psychology; with Vittorio Lingiardi and Francesco Gazzilo, 2009).

Marshall Bush

Marshall Bush is a clinical psychologist, training psychoanalyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and a supervisor, teacher, and clinical researcher with the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, USA. He is author of several scientific papers published in international journals.