N C Auerhahn | PubMed Health

PubMed1995

[The second Holocaust: life is threatening].

According to the author's observations, the "second holocaust" is a phenomenon encountered both in the first and the second generation. This dramatic concept seeks to convey the fact that the devastations of the actual holocaust are re-enacted and unconsciously repeated by the survivors and their children in terms not only of the content of the trauma but also of its style. Referring to a number of potted case histories, the authors describe how inevitable and absolute the shadow of destruction is felt to be by the victims and how the contrive to survive under this shadow. From a therapeutic viewpoint it appears helpful to encounter the onset and the effects of this "second holocaust" by activating the life side of the life-death dichotomy as a counter against the compulsive urge for repetition. Life, through felt itself to be permanently at risk, must be made to function as the motor for the negation of death.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Knowing and not knowing massive psychic trauma: forms of traumatic memory.

It is in the nature of trauma to elude knowledge, both because of deficit and defence. Massive trauma cannot be grasped because there are neither words nor categories of thought adequate to its representation; knowledge of trauma is also fiercely defended against, as it poses a momentous threat to psychic integrity. Yet knowing nevertheless occurs on some level, often in restricted or defensive forms. This paper sets forth various forms of knowing and not knowing massive historical trauma as manifested in clinical symptomatology, transference phenomena, life themes and witnessing narratives. Metaphor is also mentioned as yet another form of knowing and addressing trauma, available primarily to those who have not been directly affected as victims nor as family members of victims. The different forms imply a continuum of progressively more integrated and subjectively owned levels of knowing, directly related to the actual and psychological distance from the traumatic event. Illustrations drawn from clinical and testimonial settings are given for each level of knowing described, and implications for therapeutic strategy are discussed.

Adult↗