Former Mossad psychologist Glenn Cohen says Israeli hostages held in Gaza demonstrated an extraordinary capacity not only to survive trauma, but in some cases to find meaning and even growth through their suffering.

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Speaking with Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch, LMFT on The Viktor Frankl Podcast, Cohen described what he learned from hostages after their release. Cohen, a former Israeli Air Force pilot, hostage negotiator and trauma expert, was among the first mental-health professionals to meet returning Israeli hostages.

One of the most powerful examples, Cohen said, was Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who drew strength from Viktor Frankl’s famous teaching that a person with a “why” can endure extraordinary suffering.

According to Cohen, Goldberg-Polin shared that message with fellow hostages. When Cohen later asked survivors what helped them endure captivity, several told him they had found their own “why.”

For some, that meant returning to their families. Others found purpose in protecting weaker hostages or remembering information they could report after their release.

Cohen also described how simply knowing that people outside Gaza were thinking about them and fighting for their freedom could provide tremendous psychological strength. Some hostages became aware of demonstrations calling for their release, giving them a powerful sense that they had not been forgotten.

Another remarkable theme was spirituality. Cohen said some hostages described discovering a new connection to God while held underground in darkness and stripped of almost everything familiar to them. In moments when they possessed virtually nothing materially, some found an unexpected source of inner strength through faith and meaning.

Cohen also described former hostages who experienced what psychologists call post-traumatic growth — emerging from terrible suffering with a deeper sense of meaning, faith, purpose or personal strength.

Rather than merely “bouncing back,” Cohen described the possibility of “bouncing forward.” Trauma can shatter a person’s previous assumptions about life, he explained, but that disruption can sometimes create an opportunity to build a new sense of purpose.

The conversation also explored the Stockdale Paradox, named after American POW James Stockdale. Cohen explained the importance of facing the severity of a crisis realistically while simultaneously maintaining the conviction that one can ultimately endure it.

Schonbuch, author of Viktor Frankl and the Psychology of the Soul, noted the striking parallels with Frankl’s accounts of psychological survival during the Holocaust. Frankl wrote extensively about the importance of meaning, love, responsibility and maintaining an inner sense of purpose even when external freedom has been taken away.

For Cohen, the experiences of the hostages demonstrate that these ideas are not merely theories found in psychology books. Decades after Frankl wrote about survival and meaning, similar principles emerged among people confronting extreme conditions in the tunnels of Gaza.

The interview offers a powerful reminder of Frankl’s central message: even under circumstances of profound suffering, the search for meaning, human connection and hope can remain powerful forces for survival.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW

Watch Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch’s full interview with Glenn Cohen on The Viktor Frankl Podcast and subscribe for more interviews on psychology, Israel, faith, trauma, resilience and the search for meaning at youtube.com/@rabbiforamerica