A Latina immigrant’s response: Commentary on Paul Elovitz’s paper, “Awakening the nightmare of the subjugation and violation of women.”
Article Announcements by Ruth Lijtmaer (USA)
Clio’s Psyche (2018), 25(1):11-15.
In her response to Dr. Elovitz’s paper, Lijtmaer shows how the power differential that has been present in male-female relationships, not only in the work place but also in the intimacy of home, became the seed to make this a liberation movement. Despite the strides toward equality and independence, there are still many things that have to change. A brief clinical case is presented.
Introduction
(2018). In Laura Molet Estaper (SPAIN, Barcelona Chapter), El Dolor es Sordo (Pain is Deaf). Spain: Editorial Academica Espanola.
In this introduction to the book, Lijtmaer discusses how the trauma of not being heard when in pain creates silence or dissociation in the victim, utilizing the case of a woman who had been abused and later suffered from cancer.
Can Apologies Transform Social Trauma?
Presentation Announcement by Ruth Lijtmaer (USA)
Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society. Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, October 2018
Lijtmaer discusses the significant role of an apology in alleviating the harm caused by an individual’s or a society’s wrongdoing. In the aftermath of such traumatic events as war, racial discrimination, poverty, natural catastrophe, economic crisis or violence, the victim experiences the presence of an absence. Using Gerson’s (2009) “dead third,” Lijtmaer explores how testimonials of one’s failures help repair damage done to the experience of goodness. Empirical research has demonstrated that apologies, when appropriately constructed, reduce the victim’s motivation to blame, punish or retaliate against the transgressor. Such a move is given further impetus if the perpetrator shows signs of remorse and offers emotional recompense, material reparation or both.
Ruth Lijtmaer, PhD
88 West Ridgewood Ave.
Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450. USA
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