The Trauma Trilogy of Catastrophic Grief, Survivor Guilt and Anger in Aging Child Holocaust Survivors

Abstract

This article is based on a qualitative research study that explored the impact of trauma experienced by child Holocaust survivors who were interned in concentration camps for periods of time during their childhood/adolescence. A conceptual model of a traumatic bereavement was developed based on the analysis of in-depth, repeated interviews conducted with nine elderly survivors. Despite the passing of many decades the impact of Holocaust related trauma exposure was evident in the narratives of child survivors both in the form of traumatic stress symptoms and features of traumatic bereavement. The term catastrophic grief is proposed to properly capture the devastation and despair associated with the scale and complexity of Holocaust related loss in child survivors. Catastrophic grief appeared to be compounded by associated affects. The authors suggest the presence of a “Trauma Trilogy” in these child Holocaust survivors, consisting of interlinked difficulties in dealing with catastrophic grief, survivor guilt and anger, that are intimately entwined and appear central to catastrophic loss. This constellation of suffering inevitably contributed to leanings toward despair in the negotiation of Erikson’s final life conflict phase of integrity versus despair.

Keywords:

• Grief
• trauma
• resilience
• Holocaust
• Child Holocaust survivors
• PTSD
• survivor guilt
• anger

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tracey Farber

Tracey Farber has recently been awarded with a Ph.D. for her research Integrity versus Despair: The Experience of Traumatized Child Holocaust Survivors (University of the Witwatersrand, 2019). She has worked in private practice in Johannesburg for over 23 years as a psychodynamically oriented therapist with adults and children. Tracey has specialized in working with traumatized clients and she supervises mental health workers who work with PTSD. She has seen Holocaust survivors and second-generation Holocaust survivors for individual psychotherapy and she continues to supervise the psychosocial service for Holocaust survivors in Johannesburg at Jewish Community Services. In addition, she supervises social workers and psychologists at King David Schools. Tracey has extrapolated concepts from her research to develop a model for teaching resilience that she presents to mental health workers, parents, teachers, university students and employees. She has moved to Tel Aviv where she works as a psychotherapist at Tel Aviv University Psychological Services and in private practice. She is on the American Psychological Association (A.P.A.) Committee for COVID 19: Older adults and caregivers [email protected]

Cora Smith

Cora Smith is an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of the Witwatersrand. She also holds a joint appointment post as the Chief Clinical Psychologist at the Child, Adolescent and Family Unit, Johannesburg Hospital. She has a Masters in Clinical Psychology and a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand. She currently serves on the Human Ethics Research Committee at the University of the Witwatersrand. She previously served on the Ethics Advisory Subcommittee of the S.A. School Psychologists Association, the Ethic’s Advisory of Educational Psychologists of SA and the Ethics Advisory Committee of the South African Psychoanalytic Confederation. She is the coeditor of the book Psychodynamic psychotherapy in South Africa: Contexts, theories and applications. [email protected]

Gillian Eagle

Gill Eagle is Professor of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand and an experienced clinical psychologist. She lectures primarily on the Masters programme in Clinical Psychology and is also a core member of the doctoral team overseeing research work in the area of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and practice. Her research interests lie in the field of psychosocial studies, with a particular focus on traumatic stress and on gender and sociocultural issues. She has published numerous articles and coauthored the book Traumatic stress in South Africa with Debra Kaminer. She runs a small private practice, working primarily within a relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy framework. [email protected]