The Vocabulary of Vengefulness: Its function in the Analytic Group and Beyond

Abstract

Vengefulness is a discredited entity. It is considered primitive and uncivilized despite the fact that it is prevalent in our personal and social lives. This article suggests that vengefulness is part of one’s regular, emotional repertoire. It serves to protect from unbearable emotional pain when being made irrelevant, dismissed and ostracized. It safeguards the hope to become re-included in a lawful, just community. Vengefulness comprises a coded communication about ruptures that have not been properly exposed and acknowledged. As such, they may turn into viscous cycles of vengeful attacks and counter attacks. It is argued that unacknowledged injuries to human dignity engender a relational vocabulary of its own; it may block connectedness and restrict possibilities for reconciliation and mutual concern. The group conductor’s ability to understand this vocabulary for what it is, namely, a legitimate quest for restoring justice and accountability can be valuable in the process of recovery from traumatic experiences.