Événements à potentialité traumatique et changement de ou dans la personnalité

Abstract

ObjectiveThe theme of personality change is often discussed as a consequence of psychic trauma. But the question arises whether there is a change in the structure or in the structure of the personality. MethodThe authors draw on elements of the psychoanalytic literature and psychopathology of traumatic war neurosis, on a plausible event of Blaise Pascal's life and on a case of a female air hostess hostage. Under discussion are evoked the Near Death Experiences (NDE) as a contemporary example of the changes in personality. ResultsAlthough many authors reported changes in personality trauma, clinical trails are not the same after conception of trauma and personality. Favoring a Lacanian conception of personality and by holding that the trauma resulting from the inlay in the structure of an event that becomes significant, the authors make a parallel with the creation of an invention as a new signifier in the structure and submit assuming that trauma leads to change in the structure rather than structural changes. The case confirms the statement, and a visit by the NDE and the critical discourse about the accompanying changes shows the possible idealization which they are subjected to. ConclusionIt is not a personality change in the sense of a change of such structure, which can occur in the aftermath of a confrontation at a traumatogenic situation, but rather a change in the structure by the effects of traumatic inlay. However, these changes can have a psychopathological dimensions which are characteristic of PTSD, but they also represent a constraint not devoid of evolutionary potential.