With Survivors of Terror1

As generations of young men and women return from combat scarred not only physically but also psychologically by their experiences, as civil wars and genocide proliferate and refugees seek sanctuary in America from persecu-tion in their native countries, even while others are held in violation of their international human rights by the United States government, this paper asks what role psychoanalysts can play in working with those who have survived violence and terror as adults. Offering a relational formulation of adult onset trauma, the author reviews some of the difficulties inherent in being called upon to bear witness to destructive social forces. The paper concludes with the case of a man who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for the last 6 years. ONE OF THE MOST REWARDING PROFESSIONAL TASKS I UNDERTAKEis the psychological evaluation of refugees who are seeking politi-cal asylum in America. Sometimes, when there are no physical signs of torture, asylum depends on the opinion of a mental health profes-sional. Not everyone seeking political asylum has been tortured, but most of them have; not all torture has left physical scars, but the psychological scars are legion