From Vulnerability to Resilience: How do Elderly Holocaust Survivors Living in a Nursing Home in Israel, Cope with the Threat of COVID-19? A Group Therapy Case Study

Abstract

In addition to being an external event, the COVID-19 outbreak is a psychological event. As such, it elicits associations, memories, and metaphors around which threat perceptions are organized. These processes are likely to be especially significant among individuals who have experienced traumatic life events. In this chapter, Holocaust survivors’, living in a nursing home in a central city in Israel reactions to group psychotherapy during the Pandemic, are discussed. Themes from two timepoints demonstrate the participants’ shift in self-perceptions—from vulnerable, helpless victims of the COVID-19 threat and its multiple and complex implications, to a more resilient, resourceful, and efficacious self-perception. The case study presented in this chapter supports previous research studies, which recommend encouraging a strength-based approach when working with survivors, in order to foster better adaptation and more effective coping. This approach is especially important during times of uncertainty and adversity.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of my beloved mother-in-law, Mila Drori (1945–2020), light-spreading Holocaust survivor, whose love, kindness, and selfless devotion to her family and friends will forever remain in our hearts.