Theories of Trauma Transmission after Ferenczi: The Unique Contribution of Hungarian Psychoanalysis

Abstract

The study tracks the mechanism of transgenerational trauma transmission based on the Budapest school’s approach. Searching for common roots, the study compares the mental crypt and phantom theory of two psychoanalysts of Hungarian origin who worked in France, namely Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok, with the Holocaust syndrome theory of the Hungarybasedpsychoanalyst Terez Virag. Incorporating the ideas of the Budapest school, both authors worked out their individual theories of transgenerational trauma transmission. The ideas of Sandor Ferenczi, Michael Balint, Alice Balint, Imre Hermann, and others influenced their work. The psychoanalysts with Hungarian roots, following each other through generations,all contributed to understanding the modern concept of trauma. Apart from helping to understand individual traumas, the theories also assist in understanding today’s social traumas in Hungarian, Eastern European, and other social environments.