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

In this illuminating volume, Carlos Pitillas and Ismael Martínez-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 same way as post-traumatic stress disorder, and consider behaviours such as repetitive thoughts and actions, dissociation, and more through the lens of neuroscience and narrative theory.

This book is an important and novel read for all psychoanalysts in practice and training looking for new ways to understand and work with clients who have experienced traumatic life events. The authors’ use of familiar and canonical horror films also equips students and researchers of film studies with the knowledge necessary to integrate psychoanalytic theories into their work.

Carlos Pitillas, Ph.D., teaches psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, and psychoanalytic psychotherapy at different universities in Spain (he is primarily based at Pontifical Comillas University, in Madrid). He is also a psychotherapist in private practice, and has worked with families affected by social exclusion and trauma. At present, he coordinates the design of un upcoming Master’s Degree in Contemporary Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy that will be taught at Pontifical Comillas University, from January 2025. He has authored scientific papers and some books on trauma, intergenerational transmission, and treatment. He is the co-author of Soy lo que me persigue: el terror como ficción del trauma (the Spanish antecedent to the proposal that is presented here).

Ismael Martín Biurrun is a novelist, has published nine books of fiction (some of them awarded as best book of the year in Spain, always merging genres between horror and psychological thriller) and is the co-author of Soy lo que me persigue: el terror como ficción del trauma. He also teaches writing skills and genre theory at different schools and universities. A few titles of his novels are: Solo los vivos perdonan (published by Aristas Martínez, 2022), Invasiones (Valdemar, 2017) and Un minuto antes de la oscuridad (Penguin Random House, 2015).