Echoes of the Trauma
Relational Themes and Emotions in Children of Holocaust Survivors

Discusses the echoes of the trauma traced in the stories of the children of Holocaust survivors.

Hadas Wiseman (Author), Jacques P. Barber (Author)

9780521879477, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 August 2008

304 pages, 2 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.1 cm, 0.54 kg

"The book is well written and easy to digest, and may be applied immediately in therapeutic situations. The overview of the CCRT method seems sufficient for the reader to understand the information presented and may prompt additional exploration of the theory. The concepts are clearly articulated."
--Patricia M. Hernandez, PsycCRITIQUES

Echoes of trauma are traced in the relational narratives that the sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors tell about their experiences growing up in survivor families. An innovative combination of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method with narrative-qualitative analysis revealed common themes and emotional patterns that are played out in the survivors' children's meaningful relationships, especially in those with their parents. The relational world of the second generation is understood in the context of an intergenerational communication style called 'knowing-not knowing', in which there is a dialectical tension between knowing and not knowing the parental trauma. In the survivors' children's current parent-adolescent relationships with their own children, they aspire to correct the child-parent dynamics that they had experienced by trying to openly negotiate conflicts and to maintain close bonds. Clinicians treating descendents of other massive trauma would benefit from the insights offered into these complex intergenerational psychological processes.

1. Introduction: a narrative approach to bridging the gap between clinical case studies and empirical research
2. Studying relationship narratives with the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method
Part I. Relational Themes in Narratives: 3. Wishes for closeness and autonomy
4. The need to protect vulnerable parents and to avoid conflicts
5. 'Without words': themes of interpersonal communication
Part II. Emotions in the Narratives: 6. Anger
7. Guilt, shame and embarrassment
8. Anxiety and helplessness
9. Loneliness
10. Joy and pride
Part III. Healing Trauma in the Chain of the Generations: 11. The second generation's experience of parenting their adolescent children
12. Growing up to the music of knowing-not knowing: reflections and clinical implications.

Subject Areas: Trauma & shock [MMKB], Health psychology [MBNH9]