Pure traumatic neurosis involves ego withdrawal without any sexual-drive conflict.

Evidence

At the origin of the transference neuroses, one finds the ego’s struggle against attacks from the sexual drive. At the origin of the narcissistic neuroses, which include “pure traumatic neuroses,” there is no trace of such a struggle. The violence of the accident and the fright that accompanies it, surging up within the unprepared psyche, cause a turning of the ego within itself, a withdrawal from external objects, and a modification in the erotogenicity of Even if Freud insists upon distinguishing between the two types of neu­ rosis, he still recognizes that the war neuroses belong to both types. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 2335

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘unprepared psyche’ and fright prefigure Kolk’s and Malabou’s own emergency-disconnection theme; note the contrast with the neurological lesion that bypasses psyche entirely. — connects to: Cerebral trauma’s identity metamorphosis must not reduce to any Freudian libidinal cause. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1737; Traumatic neurosis is the ego’s flight from a psychic, not an external, threat — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 2396; Ego-withdrawal is normal in youth but becomes pathological when the ego rigidifies (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Colonial neurosis does not stem from a repressed personal trauma #expands (0.85)
• Ego-withdrawal is normal in youth but becomes pathological when the ego rigidifies #complicates (0.75)