Exhuming Our Ghosts: Why History Matters. Discussion of Articles by Ilene Philipson and Roger Frie

Abstract

In discussing the articles of Philipson and Frie, I underscore the importance of familiarity with and affective acknowledgment of one’s history—history that extends beyond the traditional focus on family narratives and attachment patterns to include an understanding of the socio-political and cultural forces that were brought to bear on the shaping of one’s interior life. Through the lens of Faimberg’s groundbreaking work on the transgenerational transmission of trauma, I address Philipson’s hypothesis of Kohut as a survivor of unacknowledged trauma and the sequelae of this occlusion on his person, his theory, and on many in his community. Finding ways to bridge what has often felt unbridgeable, through a more compassionate understanding of the forces that have shaped our psyches, our thinking and our loyalties would serve us all as psychoanalysts as we seek to extend our discourse and our reach and hopefully, too, to at least try mitigate future transgenerational trauma.

Keywords:

• ancestors
• dissociation
• ghosts
• transgenerational trauma