Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Action knowledge, acknowledgment, and interpretive action in work with Holocaust survivors.

Nanette C Auerhahn1, Harvey Peskin

  • 1nanetteca@aol.com

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|August 7, 2003
PubMed
Summary

Survivors may withhold sharing their trauma when it goes unwitnessed, hindering healing. Restoring a sense of being seen is crucial for survivors to process their suffering and reconnect.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

I Can't Forget What You Couldn't Tell Me: A Psychoanalyst Listens to Asylum Seekers.

The Psychoanalytic quarterly·2023
Same author

On The Im/Possibility of Mourning the Holocaust.

The Psychoanalytic quarterly·2022
Same author

Probing the Minds of Nazi Perpetrators: The Use of Defensive Screens in Two Generations.

The International journal of psycho-analysis·2021
Same author

Culturally gendered personality traits across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal findings from two cohorts of the intergenerational studies.

Psychology and aging·2019
Same author

Uses of guilt in the treatment of dehumanization.

The International journal of psycho-analysis·2017
Same author

Evolution of traumatic narratives impact of the Holocaust on children of survivors.

The Psychoanalytic study of the child·2015

Area of Science:

  • Psychology and Trauma Studies
  • Psychoanalytic Theory
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Survivors often withhold disclosure of suffering, particularly when their experiences are unwitnessed.
  • Expectations of disbelief or disregard can further impede the acknowledgment of persecution.
  • This silence traumatizes knowledge, diminishing its potential to inform and mobilize action.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the psychological impact of unwitnessed suffering on survivors.
  • To understand how the withholding of disclosure affects survivors' sense of reality and connection.
  • To identify therapeutic interventions that can help survivors reclaim their experiences.

Main Methods:

  • Exploration of psychoanalytic concepts, including projective identification and the analyst's use of self.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis of the dynamics between survivors and analysts when transferential cues are diminished.
  • Focus on interpretive actions that validate survivors' often unexpressed suffering.

    • Main Results:

    • Survivors habituate to suffering, which subverts meaning, dampens vitality, and hinders empathic connection.
    • A lack of transferential cues can create doubt for analysts regarding their availability and intrusiveness.
    • Restoring a survivor's sense of being witnessed requires acknowledging their unexpressed pain.

    Conclusions:

    • Therapeutic interventions must actively acknowledge and validate the suffering survivors cannot or will not express.
    • Utilizing the analyst's self and projective identifications can counter the survivor's resignation.
    • The therapeutic process can help survivors reclaim their will to live against the backdrop of unwitnessed terror.