Toward a Psychoanalytic Understanding of Children of Survivors of the Holocaust

The psychoanalytic study of children of survivors of the Holocaust provides the opportunity to contribute to a more effective approach to this population while simultaneously investigating the impact of psychic trauma on personality development.

Abstract

The psychoanalytic study of children of survivors of the Holocaust provides the opportunity to contribute to a more effective approach to this population while simultaneously investigating the impact of psychic trauma on personality development. Transgenerational transmission of trauma and the potential developmental consequences of parental affective unavailability and narcissistic overinvestment are examined, with particular emphasis on separation-individuation, superego formation, the management of aggression, and the development of the ego's capacity to maintain an appreciation of the "make-believe" quality of primitive fantasy.