Psychotherapy of an Arab patient by a Jewish therapist in Israel during the Intifada.

Fragments of a psychotherapy of an Arab patient by a Jewish psychotherapist in Israel, during an exacerbation of a historical political conflict, are presented. In addition to the delineated characteristic difficulties embedded in a cross-cultural/ethnic/national psychotherapy, an Arab-Jewish dyad evokes a complicated interaction between external political reality and the therapeutic space, confusing and obscuring the discourse, the transference, and the countertransference. We believe that the complex and intricate relationship between external reality and inner psychic reality, as it appeared in the therapeutic space, endangered the psychotherapeutic process by blurring the boundaries and creating a fertile ground for projective identification. Both the use of political reality as a defense, or its denial may preclude the possibility for a real dialogue. Implications for emphasizing the differences between patient's and therapist's ethnic affiliations, guarding sensitively the authenticity of interaction, and strengthening both participants' identity in all the relevant levels are pointed out to facilitate the dialectic process of the psychotherapy.