Therapists' responses during psychotherapy of holocaust survivors and their second generation.
(1/33)
Human personality contains three layers of identity: the collective, the familial, and the individual, intra-psychic. All three have been directly traumatized and damaged in Holocaust (Shoah) survivors and indirectly through overt and covert transmission in their children. Survivors and the second generation usually contain a few of these identity components in a state of fragmentation, which become central in the therapeutic dialogue between therapists and the patients. When the therapist belongs to the same traumatized population there exists a unique complexity of an a priori countertransference. Sharing the same traumatogenic reality that the patient seeks to alleviate through therapy poses unique difficulties and challenges for the therapist. In working with survivors, pre-war intra-familial traumatizations are of little significance in the face of the massive traumas and death suffered in the Holocaust. In the case of the second generation, "ordinary" developmental impairments and difficulties cannot be fully understood without knowledge of the parents' war experiences and the resultant family atmosphere. Thus, every therapist has to examine both his knowledge and especially his responses not only about the Shoah as a massive trauma but the specific war history of both parents families. Self-knowledge and awareness are necessary to a far greater extent than usual if one is not to be shocked or surprised into acting out. The depth and degree of openness which therapists need when dealing with Holocaust survivors and their children are at least as important as clinical skills. (+info)
Ethics and access to teaching materials in the medical library: the case of the Pernkopf atlas.
(2/33)
Conflicts can occur between the principle of freedom of information treasured by librarians and ethical standards of scientific research involving the propriety of using data derived from immoral or dishonorable experimentation. A prime example of this conflict was brought to the attention of the medical and library communities in 1995 when articles claiming that the subjects of the illustrations in the classic anatomy atlas, Eduard Pernkopf's Topographische Anatomie des Menschen, were victims of the Nazi holocaust. While few have disputed the accuracy, artistic, or educational value of the Pernkopf atlas, some have argued that the use of such subjects violates standards of medical ethics involving inhuman and degrading treatment of subjects or disrespect of a human corpse. Efforts were made to remove the book from medical libraries. In this article, the history of the Pernkopf atlas and the controversy surrounding it are reviewed. The results of a survey of academic medical libraries concerning their treatment of the Pernkopf atlas are reported, and the ethical implications of these issues as they affect the responsibilities of librarians is discussed. (+info)
Human dignity in the Nazi era: implications for contemporary bioethics.
(3/33)
BACKGROUND: The justification for Nazi programs involving involuntary euthanasia, forced sterilisation, eugenics and human experimentation were strongly influenced by views about human dignity. The historical development of these views should be examined today because discussions of human worth and value are integral to medical ethics and bioethics. We should learn lessons from how human dignity came to be so distorted to avoid repetition of similar distortions. DISCUSSION: Social Darwinism was foremost amongst the philosophies impacting views of human dignity in the decades leading up to Nazi power in Germany. Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory was quickly applied to human beings and social structure. The term 'survival of the fittest' was coined and seen to be applicable to humans. Belief in the inherent dignity of all humans was rejected by social Darwinists. Influential authors of the day proclaimed that an individual's worth and value were to be determined functionally and materialistically. The popularity of such views ideologically prepared German doctors and nurses to accept Nazi social policies promoting survival of only the fittest humans.A historical survey reveals five general presuppositions that strongly impacted medical ethics in the Nazi era. These same five beliefs are being promoted in different ways in contemporary bioethical discourse. Ethical controversies surrounding human embryos revolve around determinations of their moral status. Economic pressures force individuals and societies to examine whether some people's lives are no longer worth living. Human dignity is again being seen as a relative trait found in certain humans, not something inherent. These views strongly impact what is taken to be acceptable within medical ethics. SUMMARY: Five beliefs central to social Darwinism will be examined in light of their influence on current discussions in medical ethics and bioethics. Acceptance of these during the Nazi era proved destructive to many humans. Their widespread acceptance today would similarly lead to much human death and suffering. A different ethic is needed which views human dignity as inherent to all human individuals. (+info)
Contextualizing salutogenesis and Antonovsky in public health development.
(4/33)
More than 20 years have passed since the American-Israeli medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky introduced his salutogenic theory 'sense of coherence' as a global orientation to view the world, claiming that the way people view their life has a positive influence on their health. Sense of coherence explains why people in stressful situations stay well and even are able to improve their health. The origin of salutogenesis derives from the interviews of Israeli women with experiences from the concentration camps of the Second World War who in spite of this stayed healthy. Sixty years after the Holocaust this paper aim to shed light on the salutogenic theory in the context of public health and health promotion. In addition, other approaches with salutogenic elements for the explanation of health are considered. A potential direction for public health of the early 21st century is proposed. The historical paradox is to honour the victims of the Holocaust and see the birth of post-modern public health and the salutogenic framework through the experience of its survivors in the ashes of Modernity. (+info)
Survival of Jews during the Holocaust: the importance of different types of social resources.
(5/33)
BACKGROUND: Of the Jewish inhabitants of Amsterdam 25.9% survived the Holocaust. However, different cultural and socio-economic groups within the Jewish community may have had different social resources and different chances of survival. METHOD: To determine social resources by studying a random sample of 7,665 Jews living in Amsterdam on the eve of the destruction of Dutch Jewry. Binary logistic regression models are used to test several hypotheses and express odds ratios. As some types of social resources may be interrelated, multivariable analyses are used. RESULTS: There were basically two ways of avoiding deportation to the death camps: going into hiding or acquiring protected status. The latter option was open chiefly to Jews having German nationality. In the analyses a higher survival rate correlates with holding German nationality, however is not significant when job status is included. Survival correlates strongly with having relations with non-Jews. The results were controlled for marital status, number of children, age below 15 years and gender. Standard errors and P-values were adjusted for family relationship by using robust standard error analyses. CONCLUSION: Survival correlates most strongly with having close social ties with non-Jews. Although Jews could sometimes acquire protected status, this was no more than temporary. In order to survive, Jews needed someone who was a non-Jew to hide them and provide support. (+info)
The aging of Holocaust survivors: myth and reality concerning suicide.
(6/33)
The association between the Holocaust experience and suicide has rarely been studied systematically. The dearth of data in this area of old-age psychiatry does not necessarily imply that Holocaust survivors are immune from suicide. Recent work on the aging of survivors seems to suggest that as a group they are at high risk for self-harm. Published reports on suicide and the Holocaust identified by means of a MEDLINE literature search were reviewed. A similar search was performed on the Internet using the Google search engine. Thirteen studies were uncovered, 9 of which addressed the association of suicide and the Holocaust experience and 4 focused on suicide in the concentration camps during the genocide. Eleven of the 15 studies explicitly reported on the association of suicide, suicidal ideation or death by suicide with the Holocaust experience, or reported findings suggesting such an association. The Internet search yielded three sites clearly describing increased suicide rates in the concentration camps. An increased rate of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among the elderly who were exposed to the Holocaust experience is confirmed. There is a need for further study, intervention and resource allocation among the growing numbers of elderly persons who suffered traumatic events in earlier phases of their lives. This is especially critical for Holocaust survivors. (+info)
Doctors, pregnancy, childbirth and abortion during the Third Reich.
(7/33)
This paper does not attempt to deal with the legitimate ethical or moral debate on abortion. Utilizing abortion as a subject I will show how science and medicine in general, and abortion in particular, were used as weapons of mass destruction by Nazi physicians in their zeal to comply with the political climate of the time. Nazi policy on abortion and childbirth was just one of the methods devised and designed to ensure the extermination of those whom the Nazis deemed had "lives not worth living." Physicians implemented these policies, not with the fate of their patients in mind, but rather in the name of the "state." When discussing pregnancy, abortion and childbirth during the Holocaust it is imperative to include an essay of how these issues affected the Jewish prisoner doctors in the ghettos and camps. Nazi policy dictated their actions too. From an extensive search of their testimonies, I conclude that for these doctors ethical discourse comprised a fundamental component of their functioning. I do not propose to judge them in any way and one should not, in my opinion, argue whether their behavior was or was not morally acceptable under such duress; nevertheless, unlike their Nazi counterparts, a key theme in their testimonies was to "keep their medical values." (+info)
Eponyms and the Nazi era: time to remember and time for change.
(8/33)
Eponyms are titles of medical disorders named for individuals who originally described the condition. They also help us remember and identify the disorder. Medicine is replete with them, and changing them or eradicating them, for whatever reason, is not simple. But when there is a moral issue involved - for example, research conducted under overwhelming unethical conditions - we believe it wrong to perpetuate and thus "rew ard" the memory of the individual for whom the disorder is named. The name of a syndrome should thus be discontinued if described by an individual whose research used extreme measures or who was involved in atrocities against humanity. Ethical considerations should be introduced into medical nosology just as they exist in patient care and research. This article details a group of notable eponyms, the names of which are associated with overt crimes of the medical community during the Nazi era, and provides alternative medical nomenclature. In addition, examples are provided of eponyms named after Nazi era victims, eponyms of those who protested such injustices, and eponyms of those who had to flee discrimination and death. These should be remembered and even strengthened, as opposed to those of the perpetrators, which should be obliterated. Since the greatest accolade a physician can earn is praise from his colleagues as expressed in an eponym entrenched in one's name, the medical profession should remove any honor given to physicians involved in crimes to humanity. (+info)