A confusion of tongues: Trauma, fantasy, and dissociation in Lacanian theory and the imperative for social change

Abstract

Discussions of treatment and recovery from child sexual abuse often focus on the therapeutic aspects of speech and witness. Using concepts from Lacanian theory and from Sandor Ferenczi’s account of child sexual trauma, this article argues that speech and witness are not, in themselves, sufficient to facilitate recovery. While misogyny and violence are embedded within the available symbolic contexts within which survivors must attempt to recover, social and political change is needed to enable recovery for survivors of sexual abuse. Implications for recovery from other socially sanctioned traumas, such as racial trauma, are explored.