THE LONG-TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND TREATMENT OF HOLOCAUST TRAUMA

Abstract

The present paper gives an overview of the long-term psychological effects of Holocaust traumatization on survivors and their offspring and suggests possible treatment strategies for these client populations. Based on interviews with and treatment of hundreds of such clients and on an extensive review of the literature, it also represents some of the cumulative experience of AMCHA, an Israeli treatment center devoted specifically to this issue. “For me, the Holocaust has not ended. ” A Holocaust survivor. The long-term after-effects of Holocaust traumatization are far-reaching. More than half a century after the war, the Holocaust continues to make its presence felt on survivor families and others in a variety of ways. Like an atom bomb that disperses its radioactive fallout in distant places, often a long time after the actual explosion, the Holocaust continues to contaminate everyone who was exposed to it in one way or another. When retiring from work or experiencing deteriorating health, terrifying nightmares and flashbacks reappear in ageing survivors who over the years had kept