43

Asylum seekers fleeing war, torture, and genocide, whom I met in the context of therapeutic consultations in an emergency accommodation center for migrants, recounted their extreme experiences. They raised the question of the death drive present in violent acts. They also asked questions about having a death wish in violent events, as well as about the anguish resulting from continued confrontation with one’s own mortality in its different forms and in the transferred reliving of the traumatic experience during therapy.