ABSTRACT
This is an unusual paper to find in a psychoanalytic journal, and some might judge it to be inappropriate. The author is a lay person, working in publishing, who has, as her paper indicates, had psychoanalysis herself. The main content of the paper is subjective and historical; of course there is no supporting theoretical structure, and it does not, except very indirectly, present any unitive viewpoint. Nevertheless, since psychoanalysts, too, are first and foremost human beings, whose life-experiences may have some major common features, and who may be impelled to their work by certain shared, if unrevealed, ego ideals arising from these experiences, the occasional paper which, personally and courageously, presents psychic damage and its origins deserves a receptive audience. This is likely to be particularly true for those who still have memories of the Second World War.
