Found in translation: discussion of Galdi and Cohen.

Papers by Galdi and Cohen are appreciated and discussed. Trauma is seen as occurring in a culturally based matrix of meanings. Galdi and Cohen's case material is discussed in terms of the cultural symmetry and contrast between patient and therapist. The assault of trauma on meaning through mechanisms of dissociation, alienation and psychic numbing is explored. Therapy is examined as the restoration of meaning through the creation of a relationship through the shared language of empathy.