The 'rediscovery' of childhood physical and sexual abuse has again revived psychiatric interest in disorders which arise from traumatic experience. In The Inner World of Trauma Donald Kalsched explores the interior world of dream and fantasy images encountered in therapy in people who have suffered unbearable life experiences. In order to examine the inner world, the author focuses on certain archaic and typical dream-images which occur in response to critical moments in therapy. He shows how, in an ironical twist of psychical life, the very images which are generated to defend the self can become malevolent and destructive, resulting in further trauma for the person. Why and how this happens are the questions the book sets out to answer.