The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the analyses of Holocaust survivors' offspring

Abstract

This essay tackles the following issues: (a) The encounter of Holocaust survivor offspring whose damaged parents suffered from unresolved grief with a life‐threatening pandemic; (b) Changes of technique that may be needed during this period; and (c) The impact of countertransference of the analyst in the analytic cure in a shared life‐threatening situation. This theme will be examined by means of a case study, in which the life‐threatening situation of the pandemic reactivated guilt feelings. These feelings belonged to the patient's relationship with her mother, as well as to the Holocaust survivor mother, who committed suicide as a result of her unresolved mourning.