Articles and professional literature

This article deals with the unique trauma experienced by families of abductees following the abduction of their loved ones from Israel to Gaza on October 7, 2023. Based on in-depth interviews with family members of the abductees, the study describes how this trauma is embodied in the families' daily lives, and identifies six core themes of harm and coping, which occur simultaneously and continuously, with close interrelationships between them: managing private trauma within a broad national trauma; coping with a state of "dynamic-static vague loss," in which life is frozen but the emotional experience moves in sharp and continuous oscillations between hope and despair; an ongoing civil struggle to return loved ones, which provides meaning and control but exacts a heavy price of attrition and loss of identity; building community and public solidarity as a resource for support and healing; a deep health and functional cost, both mental and physical; and maintaining an ongoing emotional connection with the abductee through rituals, messages, and symbolic actions.

This report, written by Dr. Einat Yehene and Prof. Hagai Levin and published in February 2025 on behalf of the Health Division of the Abductees' Families Headquarters, deals with the unique and difficult reality of families of abductees who were declared martyrs following the October 7 attack, but whose loved ones have not yet been reburied, or whose repatriation occurred after a long period of time.

In the article, the authors examine the psychological impact on the Israeli public of the kidnapping of 251 civilians during the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, and propose conceptualizing it as “collective vague loss.” In contrast to a clear and definitive loss, vague loss is characterized by ongoing uncertainty about the fate of loved ones, creating a state of “present-absent,” which makes emotional processing and grieving processes difficult. The article shows that the mass kidnapping goes beyond personal kinship ties, creates a ripple effect, and constitutes a national traumatic experience with widespread implications for the mental health of the entire Israeli public.

Pauline Boss, one of the leading researchers in the field of absence, discusses in her book the concept of ambiguous loss, and offers an expanded concept of grief, which allows one to cope with the emotional and physical damage of loss, without seeking final solutions.

This book brings together for the first time the research conducted in the field of absences, and summarizes existing knowledge regarding missing children and missing adults.

Ambiguous loss is a term coined by Pauline Bosse, referring to the experience of people coping with the loss of a missing person. In their article, Weiland and Maple review the research literature on ambiguous loss, and the therapeutic interventions that have been studied in this area over the 20 years since Pauline Bosse coined the term.

The article focuses on the ambiguous loss in Israel, in the context of the October 7, 2023 attack, which left hundreds of civilians and soldiers in a state of kidnapping, captivity, or absence. This situation, known as "present-absent," is described as an ongoing trauma characterized by painful uncertainty.

The article discusses the concept of ambiguous loss, as coined by Pauline Boss, and its application in dealing with loss that is uncertain, especially in cases of disappearance or absence of people following political conflict and violence. The author suggests using the discursive approach in relation to ambiguous loss, and offers guidelines for a community-based therapeutic framework after enforced disappearance.

Although hostage-taking is an ancient practice, only recently have attempts begun to explore in depth the consequences of this phenomenon for hostages and their families. The present article reviews the key concepts related to the psychological effects of kidnapping, how people who have been taken hostage cope, and areas where research is still lacking.

The article demonstrates, through a narrative review of the literature, the consequences and effects of enforced absence on the family members of the missing person. In the article, the researchers describe psychological, social, and familial consequences, focusing on families whose loved ones have disappeared as a result of state violence.

The article discusses the influence of therapists' personal experiences on the therapist's character, especially when they experience experiences that are similar to the experiences they study and research. The authors share their personal stories of coping with grief and trauma, and demonstrate how their personal experiences helped them achieve significant results in their work as therapists.

The article describes the psychosocial needs of young people who are close to a missing person. Using the concept of vague loss, the author describes the complex coping with the uncertainty inherent in the absence of a loved one.

The article deals with the issue of time in the context of absence, and presents three possible models of time perceptions that describe the attitude of family members towards the fate of the missing.