This article explores Ferenczi’s (1932, 1933) concept of “identification with the aggressor” as an effect of psychic trauma, highlighting three of its vicissitudes: submissive love, destructive hatred, and self-hatred. We take a closer look at the fate of self-hatred, illustrating it with the “mongrel complex,” a term coined by Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues (1958), alongside biographical excerpts related to the antisemitism experienced by Freud and his father, Jacob. Additionally, we point out an unprecedented association between Ferenczi’s trauma theory and Freud’s studies on Witz (wit), taking as a reference the 1905 publication Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. Finally, we offer reflections on the “drive to rest” (Ruhetrieb) formulated by Sándor Ferenczi in his Clinical Diary of 1932, and its impulse toward serenity.
