Radical Collective Trauma: A Psychoanalyst Treats Survivors in Israel After the Massacre of October 7

This paper sheds light on new psychoanalytic insights learned from therapeutic work during an ongoing collective trauma, following the black Shabbat of October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, where 1200 people were murdered in one day and 251 were taken hostages. The author was and still is involved with the therapists’ community and with the patients’ communities, with released hostages, bereaved families, and many organizations that are involved such as “The Israeli coalition of trauma,” “The Hostages families forum,” and FLM – a philanthropic long-term therapeutic center, that provides 3 years of therapy free of charge to first, second and third family circles of the victims. The paper characterizes the unique psychological phenomenology seen in the victims of such atrocities, such as the collapse of time, and the influence these aspects have on the quality of therapy with them. Clinical and technical challenges regarding the flexibility required in treating victims of radical collective trauma are discussed, such as the “good enough setting” and the need for “radical reclamation.” The unique aspects of counter-transference with these patients are also explored, such as the “radioactive dissociation” and the experience of becoming a “monstrous breast.”