Hermetic narratives and false analysis: A unique variant of the mechanism of identification with the aggressor

This paper focuses on a unique variant of the mechanism of identification with the aggressor. The term “hermetic narrative” refers to a condition in which the trauma victim creates a hermetically sealed narrative of witnessing, which becomes an addictive and subjugating object in itself, while obstructing natural processes of thinking. This paper examines the ways in which the hermetic narrative reconstructs victim-aggressor relations both within the individual and in the analytic relationship. It further discusses the risk of creating a “false analysis” that is based on a malignant cooperation of the analyst and patient with the internalized traumatic object.