This volume comprehensively explores the life trajectories of nine child/adolescent Holocaust concentration camp survivors as recollected when the subjects were elders. Based on extensive face to face interview material, enduring psychological and symptomatic effects were evident. Survivors retained vivid recollections of the horror of internment and expressed ongoing grief for the multiple losses they had experienced. Unresolved grief contributed to a sense of existential loneliness, particularly prominent in their late life reflections.  Despite indications of resilience and life productivity, a ‘Trauma Trilogy’ of inter-linked catastrophic grief, anger and survivor guilt contributed to a sense of pain and struggle in negotiating Erikson’s final life task of Integrity versus Despair.  

Offering a fresh and innovative perspective on psychodynamic psychotherapy, this book captures the possibilities of using psychodynamic theory in service of progressive and socially relevant application. It takes the reader on a journey through the sensitive and often painful realities of contemporary South African life. Psychoanalysis as a long-term modality is inaccessible to the average South African, and in this book the authors describe how psychoanalytically orientated or psychodynamic psychotherapy can be practiced as a short-term endeavor and applied to contemporary issues facing the country. Psychodynamic work is currently undertaken by clinical psychologists, therapists, clinicians, trainers, teachers, clinical supervisors, consultants, and researchers working in university settings, state hospitals, community projects, private practice, and research. The debates, clinical issues, therapeutic practice, and nature of research covered in the book are widely representative of the work being done in the country. The need for shorter term therapy models and evidence-based interventions is as acute in global practice as it is locally. The lessons learned in South Africa have broader implications for international practitioners, and the authors stress the potential inherent in psychoanalytic theory and technique to tackle the complex problems faced in all places and settings characterized by increasing globalization and dislocation.

This book, geared towards students, clinicians, those involved in the helping professions, and interested members of the public, deals with the topic of traumatic stress from a number of angles. Traumatic stress, and posttraumatic stress more particularly, has gained international prominence as a condition or disorder that affects people across the globe in the wake of exposure to extreme life events, be these collective or individual. Given the history of political violence in South Africa, extremely high levels of violence against women and children, and the prevalence of violent crime, South Africa has the unfortunate distinction of being considered a real-life laboratory in which to study traumatic stress. Taking both a historical and contemporary perspective, the book covers the extent of and manner in which traumatic stress is manifested, including the way in which exposure to such extremely threatening events impacts on people's meaning and belief systems. Therapeutic and community strategies for addressing and healing the effects of trauma exposure are comprehensively covered, as well as the particular needs of traumatised children and adolescents. Illustrative case material is used to render ideas accessible and engaging. The book also provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of theory and practice in the field of traumatic stress studies, incorporating both international and South African specific findings. The particular value of the text lies in the integration of global and local material and attention to context related challenges, such as how trauma presentation and intervention is colored by cultural systems and class disparities. The text will be of particular interest to scholars and practitioners working with traumatic stress in developing countries or in settings in which assessment and intervention resources are limited. The book highlights both psychological and socio-political dimensions of traumatic stress and emphasises insights derived from working in the South African context that have potential relevance for shaping the direction of traumatic stress studies.