Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations

3.4. Learnings and Implications

Those of us who must revitalize ourselves or our organizations must understand the true depth and staying power of survivor symptoms. We can increase both our head and heart understanding by examining the archetypical linkages between layoff survivors and survivors of more severe traumas. I have used the ideas of Jerry Harvey, the psychodynamic theories of Robert Lifton, and a story of survivors confronting their symptoms in order to illustrate the universality of survivor symptoms. Unfortunately, there are countless contemporary examples. Another historical look at survivor symptoms is found in the work of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who wrote with a passion fueled by his own survivor sickness. One need only journey ...