Loss, Trauma, and the Book of Job

"My patient's plea echoed in my ears as anguish and panic reverberated throughout the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a modern plague that, at that time, felt almost Biblical in scale. Her question also brought me back to a discussion about the book of Job that took place in my study group of psychoanalysts, who met monthly for over a decade examining Biblical texts through a psychoanalytic lens."

"To summarize the tale: Job is a good, prosperous family man whom God defends as his servant when Satan provocatively asks, "Job praises you now, but what if he lost all he had? Would his faith remain strong or would he waver?" Disturbed by the thought, God tells Satan to test Job, just don't kill him. In rapid succession Job loses his flocks, children, and health. His wife admonishes him, "OK already! Curse God, be done with it and die." But Job refuses."

An anguished parent asks why a two-year-old developed severe pneumonia, expressing panic that mirrored global anguish during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Book of Job frames the central question of why the righteous suffer when no moral explanation seems adequate. Job loses his flocks, children, and health after God permits a test by Satan; friends urge repentance while Job refuses to curse God. Psychoanalytic reflection on Job reveals how narratives of undeserved loss surface in clinical encounters. Therapy validates outrage at innocent suffering and offers a space to construct meaning from trauma. Healing requires recognizing deep vulnerability while sustaining resilience and forward movement.

Read at Psychology Today