ABSTRACT
The big question, 'Could I survive the test of something terrible?' is followed by another which, though apparently smaller, is perhaps more important still. Namely: 'Even if I somehow survived the terror, how could I go back to living a recognizably normal life after it?' That is to say: how could I either get over it—with whatever of the original 'I' is left; or make a new start after it—on the basis of what 'I' had to become in order to cope with the extreme situation? Bruno Bettelheim writes:
