[Incest: murder of the identity].

Abstract

The author begins by describing incest in the context of a change in attitude toward it and a substantial increase in forensic referral. This is followed by the description of the psychological profile of abusing fathers and how the traumatic experience severly shatters the sense of identity in the victims. Some clinical examples illustrate the role of negative hallucination, basic violence and the phenomenon of the double. The author also approaches the mental functioning of the abusers through the angle of perversion and attempts to define some necessary therapeutic conditions.