The Uninvited Guest From the Unremembered Past : An Exploration of the Unconscious Transmission of Trauma Across the Generations

Freud wrote to Binswanger on the anniversary of his daughter s death, we will remain inconsolable I don t care for my grandchildren anymore, but find no joy in life anymore. The author poses the question in this book; what legacy does grief, loss, trauma have upon the second and third generations? When Freud wrote I don t care for my grandchildren anymore, what impact did his agonized grief have upon them? Prophecy Coles has written this meditation on the ideas that have evolved in response to this question over her thirty years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her central thesis is that we must not ignore, in our psychoanalytic practice, the impact of our ancestral history, especially if our ancestors have suffered, for their anguish can return and haunt us. It is the anguished return of traumatic experience that repeats itself across the generations and affects the way the next generation is perceived.

Freud wrote to Binswanger on the anniversary of his daughter’s death, “...we will remain inconsolable...I don’t care for my grandchildren anymore, but find no joy in life anymore.”

The author poses the question in this book; what legacy does grief, loss, trauma have upon the second and third generations? When Freud wrote “I don’t care for my grandchildren anymore”, what impact did his agonized grief have upon them?

Prophecy Coles has written this meditation on the ideas that have evolved in response to this question over her thirty years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her central thesis is that we must not ignore, in our psychoanalytic practice, the impact of our ancestral history, especially if our ancestors have suffered, for their anguish can return and haunt us. It is the anguished return of traumatic experience that repeats itself across the generations and affects the way the next generation is perceived.

"Freud wrote to Binswanger on the anniversary of his daughter's death, "We will remain inconsolable. I don't care for my grandchildren anymore, but find no joy in life anymore." The author poses the question in this book; what legacy does grief, loss, trauma have upon the second and third generations? When Freud wrote "I don't care for my grandchildren anymore', what impact did his agonised grief have upon them? This book is a meditation on the ideas that have evolved in response to this question over the author's thirty years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Her central thesis is that we must not ignore, in our psychoanalytic practice, the impact of our ancestral history, especially if our ancestors have suffered, for their anguish can return and haunt us. It is the anguished return of traumatic experience that repeats itself across the generations and affects the way the next generation is perceived."--Publisher's website COVER 1 CONTENTS 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 10 PREFACE 12 Introduction 18 CHAPTER ONE Aeschylus and ancestral history“ 26 CHAPTER TWO Sophocles and the fate of adoption 36 CHAPTER THREE Sibling ghosts 52 CHAPTER FOUR Grandmother’s footsteps 68 CHAPTER FIVE The nurse 80 CHAPTER SIX The trauma of war 96 CHAPTER SEVEN Brain development and trauma 110 REFERENCES 122 INDEX 132 This book describes different instances of trauma that may have occurred several generations ago. It explores the work of several psychoanalysts who have written on the negative effect that unknown or unremembered grandparents can have upon the life of their grandchildren.