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This clinical study of the therapy of a child of two survivors of the holocaust can be viewed as corroboration of Dr. Kestenberg's earlier article. The case material underscores the hypothesis that survivors have generally been scarred in ways that will have noxious effects on the development of their children. The desire to deny the dehumanizing experiences of the extermination camps exists in parents and children alike, leading to further pathological developments. Often the symptomatology resembles that of schizophrenia, a distinction which must be made carefully not only for obvious scientific reasons, but because a diagnosis of schizophrenia would imperil indemnification.
Drawing on his own case material and a clinical report available in the literature, the author cites the survivor-mother's inability to tolerate the separation-individuation necessary for further growth as the greatest developmental conflict between herself and the child. Lipkowitz feels that his therapeutic zeal to accomplish this separation in his adolescent patient caused resistance from the parents and the patient, leading to termination of therapy. He recommends careful inclusion of the parents in a treatment plan for such cases, and he predicts that the noxious sequelae of the concentration camp experience will, unless carefully treated, extend over numerous generations.