An Opening: Trauma and Transcendence
Abstract
With reference to the intergenerational theorizing of trauma, this article considersthe role of transcendence in the substance of our theoretical ideas about psycho-sis. Arguing against an emphasis on notions of developmental de
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cit, the author considers the recent work of Davoine and Gaudilliere as a means of questioningsome of the paradigmatic assumptions of clinical psychology. It is suggested that the relationship between psychosis and spirituality has often been conceived insuch a way as to depreciate both, and that a shift in mainstream theorizingrequires that a more fundamental place be made for the question of transcen-dence in the theorizing of madness.