Background

• Training psychoanalyst, clinical psychologist, interdisciplinary cultural researcher, and professor at the University of Haifa.
• Expertise: Trauma, bereavement, psychoanalytic literary analysis (author of Reading the Reader), and Holocaust literature.
• Recognition: Recipient of the 2024 Sigourney Award for contributions to trauma and literature studies.

Immediate Response to October 7th Attacks

• Initial Actions: On October 8, Dr. Roth initiated support for psychologists in Israel’s south and delivered a lecture outlining “10 guidelines for working with survivors,” which became widely circulated and used.
• On the Ground: Traveled to the Dead Sea to support evacuees from Kibbutz Be’eri, leading to the creation of long-term therapeutic services for survivors.

Formation of Long-Term Therapeutic Initiatives

• FLM Organization:
  
  • Founded to provide three years of pro bono therapy to survivors and their extended networks (second and third circles), recognizing that government support focused only on primary victims.
  • Involves 450 volunteer analysts from all three Israeli psychoanalytic associations.
  • Funded through a mix of state support (for first-circle victims) and donations (for broader circles).
• Other Roles:
  
  • Member of the Israel Trauma Coalition, contributing psychological expertise to community rebuilding efforts.
  • Co-founder of advocacy group dedicated to keeping hostage return high on the public agenda.
  • Active in international psychoanalytic research group on antisemitism.

Psychological Injuries Observed in Hostages and Families

Main Injuries

• Dissociative Shock:
  
  • Deep emotional numbing and detachment from memory, feelings, and relationships, often misread as resilience.
  • Survivors describe it as “a shock inside my mouth” or “a transparent burden.”
• Learned Helplessness:
  
  • Developed through prolonged powerlessness, often resulting in passivity and paralysis after release.
• Loss of Orientation:
  
  • Survivors live in “traumatic time,” where the past, present, and future collapse into each other.
  • Recovery is complicated by three persistent illusions: returning to life before trauma, starting over from zero, or being permanently stuck in trauma.
• Loss of Choice and Trust:
  
  • Captives lost control over their most basic decisions, eroding agency and the ability to trust.
• Loss of Identity:
  
  • Trauma redefines the identities of both hostages and their families, reducing life to survival narratives.
• Feeling Cast Out:
  
  • Survivors often feel alienated, as if they exist outside of the human community.
• Obscure Loss and Delayed Mourning:
  
  • Grief is complicated and extended by the unresolved nature of the hostage crisis, delaying full mourning.

Healing Forces and Recovery

Key Factors

• Love and Solidarity:
  
  • The greatest source of resilience. Many hostages report surviving by mentally staying connected to loved ones.
• Imagination:
  
  • Survivors imagined conversations with family members as a lifeline and a form of resistance.
• Ethical Standing:
  
  • Retaining moral clarity helped maintain a sense of self.
  • One mother recounted persuading a captor to return her child by appealing to shared humanity.
• Transgenerational Trauma as Strength:
  
  • Holocaust and other generational traumas, while sources of vulnerability, also offer perspective and resilience.
• Therapeutic Adaptation:
  
  • Therapists met survivors where they were—literally and emotionally—offering care in homes, adjusting formats, and prioritizing presence over technique.

Reflections on Evil and Collective Responsibility

• Understanding Evil:
  
  • Described not as innate, but as arising from projection, dehumanization, and revenge cycles.
  • Emphasized resisting dehumanization of others and maintaining ethical clarity.
• Advocacy and Mission:
  
  • Stressed the global importance of solidarity with victims, advocacy for hostage return, and moral vigilance.

Closing Thoughts

• Resilience Amidst Trauma:
  
  • Israeli society demonstrates both deep trauma and a remarkable capacity to continue functioning.
• Collective Identity and Hope:
  
  • Shared trauma has reshaped Jewish identity, but community bonds and historical memory offer hope for recovery.
• Appeal for Support:
  
  • Dr. Roth called on the international community to remain present and engaged, reminding listeners that the worst pain is to feel forgotten.

Additional Resources

• Forthcoming Publications: Four academic papers by Dr. Roth on these themes will appear in Psychoanalytic Inquiry.
• FLM – Long-term Psychological Aid for October 7 Victims and their Families
• Website: Explaining Antisemitism
• Podcast: Acute Psychoanalytic Care of the Victims of the October 7th Massacre

Resources

• Zoom Presentation by Merav Roth to Israel Trauma Mission 2025-06-20

Bio

Professor Merav Roth, PhD is a clinical psychologist, a training and supervising psychoanalyst at  the Israeli psychoanalytic association, and an interdisciplinary researcher of psychoanalysis and literature. She is a teaching professor at the School of Therapy, Counseling and Human Development at the University of Haifa, and current founder and chair of Shti Va Erev (interweaving) cultural-sensitive clinical center.  

Former head of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy program, former chair of the interdisciplinary psychoanalytic doctoral unit, former founder and chair of Melanie Klein’s  advanced studies at the School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. 

A leading figure in Israeli mental health aid after the October 7 massacre. Among the founders of Kibbutz Be’eri’s mental health crisis intervention (since October 9, and accompanying them to this day). Established and manages (with psychoanalysts Ofrit Shapira Berman and Iris Gavrieli Rahabi) FLM – the Israeli civil pro-bono organization for long-term therapy for the victims of the massacre and their family members, which was awarded second prize for the Psychoanalytic Assistance in Emergencies and Crises category of the IPA in the Community and the World Awards. A counselor and lecturer working with the Israeli coalition of trauma, the ministries of Health, Welfare, Defense, Abductees administration, Nova teams, Geo-trauma teams at Tkuma, and more. Presented dozens of papers, lectures, podcasts both to the therapeutic community and to the public, highlighting sources of  psychological resilience in  times of acute trauma.

The scientific editor of various translated books of Melanie Klein and her successors into Hebrew: Melanie Klein – Essential papers II with J. Durban (Bookworm, 2013); Klein’s Psychoanalysis of Children (Bookworm, 2022); Brenman Pick’s Authenticity in the Psychoanalytic Encounter (Carmel, 2021).

Writer of many psychoanalytic papers and chapters, including on the life and death instincts, the interdisciplinary interface of psychoanalysis and literature, the Holocaust, trauma and bereavement, ethics, and more. 

Her first book in Hebrew (Carmel, 2017) was translated into English, A Psychoanalytic  Perspective on Reading Literature – Reading the Reader (Routledge, 2020). Her (Hebrew) book True Love as the Love of Truth was recently published (Alma, 2023), based on her paper “True love as the love of truth” in Psychoanalytic  Perspectives.Her (Hebrew) book Internal Battles – in the human mind and in the mind of literary heroes was published in 2024 by Modan.

She won the prestigious Sigourney award for “extraordinary interdisciplinary work on  psychoanalysis and literature and pioneering psychoanalytic study and treatment of trauma.”