Complex Responses to Trauma: Challenges in Bearing Witness

This paper explores variability in family and individual response to trauma. The discussion draws on results from a study that investigated family adaptation to traumatic brain injury (TBI) and also refers to literature on the Holocaust. Outcomes to trauma are complex and it is argued here that hope can coexist with despair (within families and within particular individuals). The challenge for therapists in bearing witness to testimony following significantly traumatic events is also explored.