Shelly Ben David
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute New York, New York, USA
Terror and Suicide. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2009, 167 pages.

In several interviews Rachel, a Gulag survivor tells the story of her life. While Rachel recounts the many tragedies of her life, she also talks about hope and optimism. Erik Erikson’s theory of developmental and theories of trauma drawn by holocaust literature are applied to Rachel’s story. Post traumatic stress disorder is common in survivors of the atrocities of war. Extra support services should be provided to this population, especially when survivors reach retirement and begin to experience new losses in their lives. Rachel’s story highlights how important it is to keep telling and recording stories of survivors of war in order to validate them and never forget the journey they continue to travel for the rest of their lives.