Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Essay Example

Holocaust: A summary of the methods use to heal the trauma survivors of the Jewish Holocaust

Number of articles has been written about the effects caused by the Nazi Holocaust on Jewish survivors, and in addition may scholars contend that there are variations, in terms of the long term effects, which for some survivors, it means having a disease like post traumatic stress disorder for their life time, assuming the experts are correct.

The reason why many are arguing that a number of the effects are lifetime illness, was because the Holocaust that occurred during the 2^nd World War, according to Green and Graham (2009), caused people to think their world no longer made sense , and their fundamental assumptions about the meaning of life had significantly changed for the worse.

The disaster according to Green (2002), invoked long sustained stress over periods of time , upset individuals basic supposition, and was made worse by the fact that the entire social fabric of society was disrupted to the point where extreme demands were made on all strata of societies .

One of the methods of treatment that were embraced by many survivors survivorship which had its base in the Resilience Theory. Resilience Theory is defined as an ecological or multi-system life course, according to Green (2002). It involves individuals possessing the ability to maintain their coherence or continuity as their life story moves move on.

Resilience will make individuals apply their collective behaviors to situation circumstances, and achievement to overcome adversity. According to Gordon (1994), individuals the facing holocaust may apply meanings to helping a fellow survivor, blowing up a bridge, and carrying out other acts of sabotage, in an effort to remain coherent in those moments.

Research conducted in another method that has been used to achieve healing by holocaust survivors, according to Konstam, Marx, Lombardo, and Harrington (2002) indicated that forgiveness can be used as an effective coping system to reduce stress and resolve feelings of anger, despair, and resentments, which in turn can negatively affect ones well being, quality of life and interpersonal relationship.

Eva Mozes Kor, a survivor of Josef Mengele’s cruel twin experiments in the Auschwitz concentration camp, shocked other holocaust survivors when she publicly forgave him for his atrocious acts, according to IMDb (2006). In her case forgiveness brought healing, but according to Cohen (2006), despite the potential impact on mental health , there has been relatively little research on the relationship between forgiveness and mental health.

Psychotherapeutic treatment of survivors in group settings, according to Prot et al (2011), can bring healing due to its stated objective of string to reinstate continuity between pre-war past and the present, a construction of self, the reformulation of the negative visions of life, the highlighting of the good things that happened in individuals lives, as well as the identification of the inner strength that perpetuated survival over the worst.

These methods all generated varying degrees of success, and this writer is in agreement with the application of them all, especially in light of the fact that no one research has tried them all and were able to effect comparisons that would enable objective decisions to be made in a particular direction. Additionally, no two individuals possess the same personality, and as such one method may work well in some cases, and be a failure in other survivors.

In closing, with respect to the use of a different method to bring about healing to ethnic survivors fighting to overcome the effects of hatred, it would be ideal for the psychotherapeutic methodology be applied to several larger group settings at the same time, so that more individuals can be successfully treated, and the chemistry that will evolve from the process will even serve to enhance the healing process in more profound ways.

Reference

Greene R.R,(2002). Resiliency: An Integrated Approach to Practice, Policy, and Research. Washington, DC: NASW Press; 2002.

Greene, Roberta R., Graham, Sandra A. (2009). Role of Resilience Among Nazi Holocaust Survivors: A Strength-based Paradigm for Understanding Survivorship Family & Community Health: January/March 2009 – Volume 32 – Issue 1 – p S75-S82 DOI: 10.1097/01.FCH.0000342842.51348.83

Gordon, E,W. and Song L.D.(1994). Variations in the experience of resilience In: Wang MC, Gordon EW, editors. Educational Resilience in Inner-city America. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1994:27-44.

Konstam, V., Marx, F., Schurer, J., Lombardo, N. B. E., & Harrington, A. K. (2002).

Forgiveness in practice: What mental health counselors are telling us? In S. Lamb & J.G. Murphy, (Eds.), Before forgiving: Cautionary views of forgiveness in

psychotherapy. pp.54-71. New York: Oxford University Press. IMDb (2006). Forgiving Dr. Mengele Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489707/ on 05/11/12

Cohen, H.L. (2006). Narratives of Forgiveness among Older Holocaust Survivors: A Pilot Study Retrieved from http://www.gswi.org/programs/hfs/Harriet%20Cohen.pdf on 05/11/12

Prot, K., Szwajca, K. Biedka, L. Bierzy?ski, K., Domagalska, E. , and Izdebski, R. (2011). Psychotherapy of Holocaust survivors – group process analysis Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2011 ; 1 : 21–33