title: HANSEL AND GRETEL: A TALE OF TERROR.
abstract: In the analysis of a woman with multiple childhood traumas, the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel" figured prominently. The author discusses the use of the fairy tale in this case at various levels. He suggests an interplay between a national myth, the fairy tale, and a personal myth-the patient's psychodynamics. The fairy tale can be used to illuminate personal meanings derived from it. In the experience of childhood trauma, the repeated reading of a fairy tale can help organize and defend against terrifying anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Member of the faculty at Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis in New Haven, Connecticut, and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000067073:Psychological Trauma / Q000628:therapy*; D014167:Transference, Psychology
keywords: Hansel and Gretel; anti-Semitism; child abuse; dream analysis; fairy tales; fantasy; personal myth; transference-countertransference; trauma