Margarete Mitscherlich

Margarete Mitscherlich was a German psychologist and author who lived from 1917 to 2012. She is remembered for her research which focused on the trauma caused by war, called "war neuroses". She was especially popular for her book The Inability to Mourn, which discussed the effects of the Holocaust on survivors and the generations who followed them. She believed that people had difficulty coming to terms with the trauma of the Holocaust, and that this made it harder for them to move forward in their lives. She also wrote about how society could heal from the trauma of wars, by helping those who experienced the trauma to talk about their experiences and to come to terms with their feelings. Her work has been very influential in how people understand the psychological effects of war and other traumatic events.