The Psychodynamics of Trauma and Modern Horror Cinema: I Am What Haunts Me [Paperback]

1. Traumatic Disruption in Modern Horror Cinema? 2. Traumatic Fragmentation in Modern Horror Cinema? 3. Modes of Traumatic Re-emergence in Modern Horror Cinema? 4. The Hero's Darkest Journey: Trauma Storytelling in Modern Horror Film? 5. Reclaiming the Metaphor, Embracing the Monster: Using Horror Films in Psychotherapy with Traumatized Patients

Pitillas and Mart?nez-Biurruns expert two-hander represents a milestone in trauma approaches to horror film.?The Psychodynamics of Trauma and Modern Horror Cinema?carefully interweaves narrative analysis with relevant insights from clinical psychology to make a compelling case for the genres ability to mediate traumatic events and capture the complexities of psychic wounds. Already very popular in its home country, the book is poised to reach an even wider audience thanks to this new revised edition in English.?

Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes,?author of Contemporary Body Horror (2024) and Gothic Cinema (2020)?

In this illuminating volume, Carlos Pitillas and Ismael Mart?nez-Biurrun provide in-depth analysis of contemporary horror films from a psychoanalytic perspective.

Drawing on Freudian psychoanalysis, object relations theory and relational psychoanalysis, the authors explore the ways in which horror films present different aspects of traumatic phenomenology and the re-emergence of unprocessed traumatic wounds. Covering films as diverse as Psycho, The Babadook, Black Swan, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, the authors dissect the use of symbolism and metaphors in popular horror cinema to show how the disruptive threats faced by characters in these films often function in the lCn