This article discusses the psychological distress triggered by a traumatic event and starts with a historical perspective in which Freud's conceptual contributions to the definition of the traumatic neuroses are presented. Next, the points of view of early psychoanalysts, especially Sandor Ferenczi and Karl Abraham, on the subject are taken into consideration. The contribution of Jean Laplanche's theory of generalized seduction to the understanding of the concept of trauma in psychoanalysis closes the theoretical part of the article. Two clinical reports are presented as illustrations of the main ideas defended by the author, according to which every anxiety created by a traumatic event always brings about anxiety due to the internal violence of the sexual drive. This hypothesis is entirely based on Freud's ideas about anxiety, which have been adopted by Laplanche.
Traumatic neurosis; anxiety; general seduction theory