Therapy During Wartime: A Case Study

Abstract

The following case vignette exemplifies how the terror of war can divide even the closest of communities, compatriots, colleagues, friends, families, and uproots our very notion of who we are and who we will become. A shared powerlessness is the very place where this therapist and patient meet—a place of surrendering to the overwhelming losses that are already here and that trumpet losses soon to come. The condition for healing for both therapist and patient is found in each partner’s capacity to be with another, and all that spontaneously moves through them. Staying close to her moving-sensing experiences, the therapist offers herself as possible steady ground for the patient, who eventually reciprocates in kind. The therapist learns as much about herself in the exchange as the patient and most probably more. How could it be otherwise?