On Knowing but Not Knowing in the Aftermath of Traumatic Betrayal: Discussion of Paper by Dianne Elise.

There is a long tradition of analysands who have remained silent after traumatic betrayals. The difficulty in speaking to what happened has its origins in intrapsychic, intersubjective, and institutional dynamics. In this discussion of Dianne Elise’s paper, the author explores some of the factors involved, including the sense of uncertainty about what happened and its meaning, the transference concerns about how the new analyst views the former analyst, the countertransference paralysis of the new analyst, the disillusionment of members of the analytic community, the striking differences across the spectrum of analysands in their reactions to boundary violations, and the pairing phenomenon described by Bion as it applies to groups of analysts in a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]