Mythological Bridge Between Intergenerational Transmission of Unmourned Loss and Addiction

Throughout its history, psychoanalysis has explored the relationship between object loss and ego development. More recently, the concept of intergenerational transmission of trauma has more explicitly been included in psychoanalytic discussions. It is not yet clear, however, how trauma, loss, and deficits in ego development have been implicated in the histories of those who struggle with drug addiction. In this thesis, I will use theory, myth, and case histories to explore these links. The inquiry into the effects of loss on the developing person can be traced back to Freud's (1917) work, Mourning and Melancholia, in which he talks about the loss of a loved object and its relation to the loss of the ego itself that occurs in Melancholia. The grief period that takes place during mourning enables the ego to free its libido from the lost object. Freud stated that the problem occurs when the libido is attached to a non-existent object, which in this case is the ego itself (in Klein, 1940). He also mentioned that people with melancholia criticize themselves harshly in order to defend themselves from total annihilation. The individual relinquishes reality instead of the object (Freud, 1917). Without sufficient ego development to constitute oneself as a separate subject, it is as if the lost object and the individual become one. The relationship between self and other, then, becomes enmeshed, symbiotic and utterly dependent. In 1940, Klein takes up these issues again, differentiating between normal mourning and manic depressive states. In her writing, she focuses on the object that is lost, which she theorizes in terms of the mother’s breast, and emphasizes the importance of mourning for ego development. From her perspective, the infant originally cannot hold in mind the absent breast, which is experienced, then, as the bad and depriving object. From that position, the infant feels as if he/she has lost their good internal objects. The bad feelings associated with the deprivation feel dangerous, and the lack of clear distinction between self and other results in the fear that the bad internal objects are going to ultimately destroy them. Once the child is able to recognize that the bad, depriving mother is also the good, nurturing mother, then the good internal object can be established and they will begin to feel safe again in the internal world. In Klein’s formulation, this occurs in the depressive position and can be reactivated later in adulthood. Winnicott (1960/1965), in contrast, introduced the concept of the good enough mother, who helps in establishing good internal objects in the infant, which later helps in the process of developing a true self. Winnicott not only develops this concept but also the concept of false self, which he links to the failure to constitute oneself as a separate subject, as alluded to previously by Freud. For Winnicott, the true self develops in the process of separation-individuation from the mother. If this is not achieved, a false self emerges in relation to the dependence on the other at the expense of one’s own self-development. In 1993, Green added to this picture through his concept of the dead mother, which highlights another type of loss that the individual can encounter. Green introduces this term by stating that the child inherits the mother’s narcissistic wound in order to fix what the mother couldn't do for herself, therefore creating an identification with the dead mother and not leaving room for the child to develop their own ego. In such a situation, Shabad (1993) suggests, the mother’s depression surpasses the needs of the child, resulting in the creation of a false self in order to fulfill the mother’s demands, thus leaving aside the child's wishes and the central desire that we find at the core of Lacan’s (1977a,b) theorizing about self-development. This type of unfilled absent will be important in our consideration of drug addiction. Green’s idea of the dead mother marks one way in which loss can occur within the family setting in ways that make it difficult for the child to establish sufficient relationships with the parent to be able to develop. In intergenerational transmission of trauma, an identification occurs with the mother’s depressed state or, more specifically, the unmourned loss of the mother. The child can either give themselves over entirely, losing a part of their self, or become narcissistically detached by trying to separate from their parents. An actual loss of a parent does not necessarily occur, but the beliefs and ideals that are attached to that parent do (Shabad, 1993). When accomplished without closing down emotionally, this process is also considered a type of mourning. On the other hand, loss that is not mourned produces transgenerational ghosts and creates family secrets that are carried across the generations (Abraham & Torok, 2005; Moldawsky Silber, 2012). The ghost becomes “what cannot be named”, for example, death of a family member, incest, abuse, etc. Until it is named, only then will the individual accomplish a separation from the mother (Abraham & Torok, 2005). Burch (1989) considered that the initial phase of recovery from mourning was to rediscover the original attachment that occurred and to accept it. Shabad (1993) would later add that it is important to go back and pick up the split-off fragments and accept them in order to let them go. Unresolved loss in parents makes them unavailable for their children, therefore creating an impediment to the development of the child (Charles, 2014). Children of survivors of a traumatic event are often infiltrated with the unresolved trauma of the parents that has not been discussed, leaving the child to fill in the gaps of the incomplete narrative, that are referred to as wounds without memory. These children develop their lives around emptiness, loss and horror (Lijtmaer, 2017). People in this type of situation at times try to fill this emptiness with drugs. Psychoanalytic interest in drug addiction can be traced back to Freud’s work on drug addiction and oral erotism in 1905. This encouraged others to research in this field as well. Kielholz and Simmel made the first connection between narcissism and drug addiction (In Rosenfeld, 1960). Rosenfeld (1960) also noted that a relation exists between Klein’s paranoid schizoid position and drug addiction. He stated that the ego and its defense mechanisms regress to this position, leading the patient’s ego to split into two and thus the bad self is identified with the drug itself. Excessive splitting and oral regression weakens the ego and, as a result, these patients have a hard time dealing with anything that causes pain, suffering or frustration. For Rosenfeld (1960), the drug symbolizes a dead or ill object that the individual thinks it should embody because of the guilt they feel. Can this dead or ill object, that the individual with substance abuse identifies with, be the unmourned loss of the parent’s childhood trauma? As is shown above, the concept of loss has changed throughout time, each time gaining new meanings and enlarging and refining our field of inquiry. Our investigation also demonstrates that psychoanalytic research in substance abuse has focused on the individual himself and not on intergenerational psychic trauma. In this thesis, a conceptual research will take place in order, first, to explore the concept of loss as well as its changes in meaning over time. I will then investigate whether a relation exists between narcissistic loss in a substance abuser and the trauma that has not yet been mourned by their ancestors or parents. It has been shown in the past that two concepts can be integrated in order to construct a new one or develop a clearer understanding of the relationship between those two concepts. That is the intention of this study. Some examples of this type of research include Joseph’s (2003) work, the observing ego as a voyeur, in which he makes a connection between ego psychological concepts and Kleinian theory to explain how the splitting of the ego is caught between a destructive and seductive superego. Another example where conceptual research has been used was in Beebe Tarantelli’s Life with death: Towards metapsychology of catastrophic psychic trauma. In her work, she expands the concept of trauma, taking into account Matte Blanco’s work with Holocaust survivors (Leuzinger Bohleber, & Fischmann, 2006). In line with that model, the following research question will be put into inquiry for this study: What is the relationship between the narcissistic splitting that occurs in a substance abuse user and an unmourned loss in the intergenerational transmission of trauma?