Therapy in the shadow of terrorTherapy in the shadow of terror
All In The Mind
This week, delivering therapy to the enemy. Meet Jewish psychotherapist and anthropologist Dr Henry Abramovitch, president of the Israel Institute for Jungian Psychology. In Jerusalem he soothes the souls of both Israeli and Palestinian clients. But with suicide bombs exploding in the neighbourhood, politics can't help but creep into the therapeutic setting. Continually confronted with their combined mortality, the boundaries between therapist and client, victim and perpetrator, take on very different dimensions. Dr Abramovitch joins Natasha Mitchell as a feature guest, with powerful insights into the personal nightmares of a population divided by decades of conflict.
29:54•28 Oct 2006
Therapy Across Enemy Lines Under the Shadow of Terror
Episode Overview
- Therapy can continue under constant threat of bombings, but the shared danger deeply shapes both therapist and client.
- Recurring dreams and nightmares act like repeated messages, signalling unresolved trauma that demands attention.
- In intense conflict, people may feel themselves as both victim and perpetrator, creating deep inner confusion.
- Collective identities can override individual ones during crises, strongly affecting how therapist and client see each other.
- Health professionals from both sides of the conflict are increasingly working together, using shared trauma work as a bridge for cooperation.
“I actually think this whole image of how people, for instance, are blown up together… is how we are so much mixed up psychologically one with the other.”
What drives someone to seek a therapist from the other side of a bitter conflict? This episode looks straight at that question through the work of Dr Henry Abramovitch, a Jewish Jungian psychotherapist based in Jerusalem who treats both Israeli and Palestinian clients while suicide bombs shake his neighbourhood. You’ll hear about therapy carried out with literal sirens in the background, where both therapist and client share the same daily fear of sudden death.
Abramovitch talks about his consulting room as a “temenos”, a sacred space, and tells a striking story of a suicidal patient who fixated on a single tile laid out of sequence, saying, “That’s me. I’m the one out of place.” From there, the conversation shows how even a room can become an anchor when the outside world feels like it’s exploding.
He and host Natasha Mitchell walk through cases where politics storms into the therapy hour: a Palestinian woman who says to her Jewish therapist, “I hate all Jews,” then kisses and spits at his mezuzah on the door; Israeli patients dreaming that they are both terrorist and victim; and a teacher haunted by a bombing that killed her student. Abramovitch explains how recurring nightmares act like “repeating telegrams”, demanding attention until trauma is faced.
The episode also touches on the emotional toll on therapists themselves, from hearing bombs “pursuing” him around the city to wrestling with his own reactions when clients seem oblivious to the wider terror, or too overwhelmed by it. Yet amid walls, checkpoints and fear, he describes growing cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian mental health professionals, and the idea of “health as a bridge for peace”.
If you’ve ever wondered how therapy can hold together under extreme violence and hatred, this conversation offers a raw look at what it means to keep a healing space open when the outside world is falling apart. What might a “safe space” mean for you under pressure?
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