Comparisons of second-generation holocaust survivors, immigrants, and nonimmigrants on measures of mental health.

Investigated whether a "children-of-Holocaust-survivors syndrome" could more parsimoniously be explained as an "immigration effect," in a comparative study on 25 children of Holocaust survivors, 25 children of immigrants, and 25 children of American-born parents (mean age of all Ss 26.96 yrs). Ss were matched on age and educational level and were assessed with 4 measures of mental health: an alienation scale, an anomie scale, a hostility-guilt inventory, and a brief mental health index. Data indicate no significant differences between children of holocaust survivors and the children of other immigrants. These data suggest an immigration effect that is common to the children of immigrants and not limited to the children of Holocaust survivors, rather than a survivors syndrome. The children of American-born parents showed greater alienation, less religiosity, and a tendency toward feelings of less guilt than the other 2 groups. Results underscore the need to control immigrant status in multiple samples and studies before definitive conclusions can be drawn in this area. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The legacy of the Holocaust: Psychohistorical themes in the second generation.

Reviews the book, The legacy of the Holocaust: Psychohistorical themes in the second generation by Robert M. Prince (see record 2000-08422-000). The concept that the Holocaust is a unique event in human history has been seriously debated. Is the Holocaust comparable to savage massacres of other groups at other times in civilization? Or is it an event that, because of its enormity, transcends all other barbarities in modern history? If it is unique, then this uniqueness must attach itself to the identity of the children of the survivors of the Holocaust. Prince addresses this issue of identity in this book. Prince identifies three significant sources of influence in the lives of these children: the parents' character style and their relationship with their children, the active participation of the children in imagery from their parents' past, and the cultural context in which the children have been raised. How these influences interweave and transform each other is a major focus of the study. The second focus is the relationship between the children of Holocaust survivors "and the events of history, involving observation of their adaptation to history and anticipation of their effect on it" (p. 15). Prince has undertaken an ambitious project. He has attempted to apply a psychoanalytically-informed methodology to the study of the Holocaust. He offers a scientific approach to the study of the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next. The work raises issues and questions that, it is hoped, will motivate others to continue the inquiry. The book strives to find meaning in response to the unimaginable and the unthinkable acts of mankind. It merits a place in the library of anyone concerned with the Holocaust or interested in psychohistorical explorations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Altered antigen presentation in mice lacking H2-O

The phenomenon of transgenerational traumatization has currently become widely recognized and described, although the task of disentangling the underlying interactional mechanisms remains a difficult one. These transgenerational mechanisms were first detected in families of the survivors of the Holocaust, but they may be equally prominent in families of parents who have been traumatized in other ways, for example, as victims of child neglect and abuse, as orphaned children, or during military service. In cases in which parents have themselves been subjected to early parental deprivation, one or more children may become projectively identified with a parent's (posttraumatic) "bad child"-self, whereas the parent him/herself has identified with--enacts the role of--the idealized internal "martyr" parent. A case study is presented describing the individual and family therapeutic treatment of a woman who, as a child, had been traumatically separated from her parents.     

Lack of Long-Lasting Consequences of Starvation on Eating Pathology in Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Nazi Concentration Camps.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether Holocaust survivors will show the same eating pathologies that were found in other participants who had also undergone starvation. Fifty-five Holocaust survivors and 43 matched control participants answered a questionnaire designed to explore eating problems and pathologies described in the literature as lasting for decades after a period of severe food restriction. Confirmation of the survivors' reports was obtained from their children. No significant differences in current eating habits were found between the Holocaust survivors and their matched controls. Prolonged starvation in Holocaust survivors did not lead to disordered eating habits in the sample. These results conflict with the notion that severe starvation consistently leads to food preoccupation and disordered eating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors

OBJECTIVE: There has been considerable controversy regarding the impact of the Holocaust on the second generation, but few empirical data are available that systematically document trauma exposure and psychiatric disorder in these individuals. To obtain such data, the authors examined the prevalence of stress and exposure to trauma, current and lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other psychiatric diagnoses in a group of adult offspring of Holocaust survivors (N=100) and a demographically similar comparison group (N=44). METHOD: Subjects were recruited from both community and clinical populations and were evaluated with the use of structured clinical instruments. Stress and trauma history were evaluated with the Antonovsky Life Crises Scale and the Trauma History Questionnaire, PTSD was diagnosed with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, and other psychiatric disorders were evaluated according to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTS: The data show that although adult offspring of Holocaust survivors did not experience more traumatic events, they had a greater prevalence of current and lifetime PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses than the demographically similar comparison subjects. This was true in both community and clinical subjects. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate an increased vulnerability to PTSD and other psychiatric disorders among offspring of Holocaust survivors, thus identifying adult offspring as a possible high-risk group within which to explore the individual differences that constitute risk factors for PTSD.     

The transmission of trauma across generations: identification with parental trauma in children of Holocaust survivors

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the phenomenology of intergenerational transmission of trauma with the aim of elucidating the interactional process of transmission within an object relations framework. METHOD: The method consisted of systematic textual analysis of semi-structured interviews with six Jewish women born after the war who were children of concentration camp interned Holocaust survivors. RESULTS: Four superordinate themes were identified: heightened awareness of parents' Holocaust survivor status, parenting style, overidentification with parents' experiences and transmission of fear and mistrust. These were found despite the variation in parental communication. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that unconscious processes are at least partially involved in the transmission of trauma. A form of projective identification is proposed as an explanatory mechanism which brings together diverse aspects of the observed phenomena: projection by the parent of Holocaust-related feelings and anxieties into the child; introjection by the child as if she herself had experienced the concentration camps; and return of this input by the child in the form of compliant and solicitous behaviour associated with enmeshment and individuation problems. Further research may establish these phenomena as a particular form of Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder.     

The empty circle: children of survivors and the limits of reconstruction

The empty circle symbolizes the absence of representation, the rupture of the self, and the erasure of memory that together constitute the core legacy of massive psychic trauma. A brief case vignette and a more extensive fragment of an analysis are used to illustrate how the unassimilable empty core of trauma may perpetuate itself in the lives of adult children of Holocaust survivors, exerting a dominating force over their identities, memories, fantasies, and transference feelings. Developmental conflict models are often insufficient in explaining these powerful phenomena. The analyst's underlying acknowledgement and acceptance of the realness of an "absence" at the core of the trauma (and the sustaining bond this forges) may provide a counterforce to the rupture of the trauma, and may create a space for patients to come to an awareness of the origin of their particular life themes in the traumatic experience of the parents.     

Symptoms of female survivors of child sexual abuse

Women who suffered sexual abuse as children often experience a variety of physical and psychosocial symptoms as adults. Identifying this pattern of symptoms might assist health professionals in recognizing and treating nonreporting survivors of child sexual abuse. In this study, the Adult Survivors of Incest (ASI) Questionnaire (Brown & Garrison, 1990) was used to determine the symptoms and contributing factors for 22 adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Six physical symptoms were experienced by 50% of the subjects, and over 75% of the subjects experienced 11 psychosocial symptoms. The number of physical symptoms correlated significantly with other victimizations (r = .59) and number of psychosocial symptoms (r = .56). The findings suggest that the ASI Questionnaire was effective in identifying patterns of symptoms and contributing factors of adult survivors of child abuse. Additional study is needed to determine the usefulness of this questionnaire in identifying nonreporting survivors in clinical situations.     

Subjective well-being among Holocaust survivors: An examination of overlooked differentiations.

This study addressed the issue of adjustment among Holocaust survivors by multidimensional assessment of subjective well-being (SWB). Participants were Israeli Holocaust survivors incidentally included in a life-span study (Group 1; n?=?466) or purposely approached for studying Holocaust survivors (Group 2; n?=?178). Comparison participants had immigrated to Israel before World War II, with their parents either undergoing (Group 3; n?=?270) or not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 4; n?=?388); other comparison participants had immigrated after the war with parents not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 5; n?=?166). Results showed that Group 1 scored lower than Group 2, mainly in positive affect. Group 1 scored lower than Group 4, and to a lesser extent also lower than Groups 3 and 5, mainly in aging-related themes of SWB. The study suggests that long-term effects of the Holocaust on the survivors' SWB are traceable but require a differential approach to the study groups and to the facets of SWB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The primal scene of atrocity: The dynamic interplay between knowledge and fantasy of the Holocaust in children of survivors.

When a psychotic level of experience like the Holocaust is enacted, the resulting trauma lacks the associative network that characterizes normal memories. It creates instead a "black hole." Destruction of the relationship to a "mother" is at the heart of that void and is responsible for the unrepresentability of massive trauma. This destruction is a primal scene equivalent. Children of survivors weave fantasies from parents' posttraumatic screens and their own developmental conflicts. The primal scene is a model for the manner in which these children take possession of forbidden, traumatic knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The American Indian Holocaust: healing historical unresolved grief

American Indians experienced massive losses of lives, land, and culture from European contact and colonization resulting in a long legacy of chronic trauma and unresolved grief across generations. This phenomenon, labeled historical unresolved grief, contributes to the current social pathology of high rates of suicide, homicide, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism and other social problems among American Indians. The present paper describes the concept of historical unresolved grief and historical trauma among American Indians, outlining the historical as well as present social and political forces which exacerbate it. The abundant literature on Jewish Holocaust survivors and their children is used to delineate the intergenerational transmission of trauma, grief, and the survivor's child complex. Interventions based on traditional American Indian ceremonies and modern western treatment modalities for grieving and healing of those losses are described.     

Introduction to the special section on personality development.

For years the author has been struck by the oddity of having two separate fields that study personality--one in children and one in adults--with relatively little contact between the two. Those who study adult personality rarely refer to the child disposition literature, for example, and those who study childhood temperament infrequently describe how it unfolds into adult personality. Admittedly, part of the problem is that data that shed a bright light on the transition from childhood to adult personality have been hard to obtain and are scarce. Nonetheless, it is crucial to both developmental psychology and personality psychology for researchers to study transitions and continuities in personality throughout the life course. It is to this end that this special section was created. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging holocaust survivors' well-being and adjustment: Associations with ambivalence over emotional expression.

A sample of 90 older respondents (age range: 78-83 years) composed of 2 Holocaust groups (camp inmates and other survivors) and a comparison group completed questionnaires measuring ambivalence over emotional expression, positive and negative affect, and psychosocial adjustment. The Holocaust groups rated higher than the comparison group on negative affect and ambivalence over emotional expression and lower on psychosocial adjustment. Ambivalence over emotional expression mediated the effects of the Holocaust on negative affect. These data suggest that the effects of the Holocaust are evident 60 years later, highlighting the role of ambivalence over emotional expression in the well-being of Holocaust survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The victim and the psychologist: Changing perceptions of Israeli holocaust survivors by the mental health community in the past 50 years.

The article focuses on the changing themes of psychological theory in regard to posttraumatic effects of the Holocaust on its survivors in the course of the past 50 years. An examination of pertinent changes in the Israeli society during that time period helps clarify these themes. Three stages of change have been identified, each with its different concerns, key issues, consensual answers, and attitudes toward Holocaust survivors. These concerns are (a) who survived? (b) are survivors psychologically healthy or sick? and (c) have the posttraumatic effects extended beyond the survivors (e.g., to their families)? The analysis reveals similarity between the concerns that guided the development of psychological theory and those that governed social discourse on the Holocaust and its survivors in Israeli society. The implications of this analogy for the development of psychological theory and the understanding of societal coping with massive social traumas are discussed. The analysis draws on psychological literature on posttraumatic stress and on sociohistorical analyses of Israeli society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Surviving the Holocaust: A meta-analysis of the long-term sequelae of a genocide.

The current set of meta-analyses elucidates the long-term psychiatric, psychosocial, and physical consequences of the Holocaust for survivors. In 71 samples with 12,746 participants Holocaust survivors were compared with their counterparts (with no Holocaust background) on physical health, psychological well-being, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychopathological symptomatology, cognitive functioning, and stress-related physiology. Holocaust survivors were less well adjusted, as apparent from studies on nonselected samples (trimmed combined effect size d = 0.22, 95% CI [0.13, 0.31], N = 9,803) and from studies on selected samples (d = 0.45, 95% CI [0.32, 0.59], N = 2,943). In particular, they showed substantially more posttraumatic stress symptoms (nonselect studies: d = 0.72, 95% CI [0.46, 0.98], N = 1,763). They did not lag, however, much behind their comparisons in several other domains of functioning (i.e., physical health, stress-related physical measures, and cognitive functioning) and showed remarkable resilience. The coexistence of stress-related symptoms and good adaptation in some other areas of functioning may be explained by the unique characteristics of the symptoms of Holocaust survivors, who combine resilience with the use of defensive mechanisms. In most domains of functioning no differences were found between Israeli samples and samples from other countries. The exception was psychological well-being: For this domain it was found that living in Israel rather than elsewhere can serve as a protective factor. A biopsychological stress-diathesis model is used to interpret the findings, and future directions for research and social policy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protection, Dissociation, and Internal Roles: Modeling and Treating the Effects of Child Abuse.

This article presents a theory of the long-term effects of child abuse that emphasizes the development of internal working models of protection. The theory proposes that abused children do not receive adequate caregiver protection and do not form internal representations of an effective protector. As a result, they have ongoing difficulty defending themselves against interpersonal aggression and internal self-criticism. The model integrates current research and theory in attachment behavior, developmental psychopathology, trauma, dissociation, and experiential psychotherapy. It accounts for many of the clinical symptoms presented by adult survivors of child abuse and suggests specific strategies for treatment. The author provides 3 examples of psychotherapy interventions derived from the model, distinguishes protection and "rescuing", and suggests directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smile intensity and warm touch as thin slices of child and family affective style.

The authors investigate the claim that thin slices of expressive behavior serve as reliable indicators of affective style in children and their families. Using photographs, the authors assessed smile intensity and tactile contact in kindergartners and their families. Consistent with claims that smiling and touch communicate positive emotion, measures of children’s smile intensity and warm family touch were correlated across classroom and family contexts. Consistent with studies of parent–child personality associations, parents’ warm smiles and negative facial displays resembled those of their children. Finally, consistent with observed relations between adult personality and positive display, children’s smiling behavior in the classroom correlated with parent ratings of children’s Extraversion/Surgency. These results highlight the utility of thin slices of smiling and touch as indicators of child and family affective style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early Manifestations of Personality and Adult Emotional Functioning.

Developmental antecedents to adult emotional functioning were investigated in an epidemiologic study using theories of personality and emotion. The authors tested whether different types of adult emotional distress can be linked to childhood personality attributes. Using data from 3,138 children at age 7, measures of 4 childhood personality attributes were developed and validated: Behavioral Inhibition, Distress Proneness, Attention, and Inappropriate Interpersonal Self-Regulation. Sound psychometric properties of these scales are demonstrated by considering the measures across multiple samples and in comparison with established child behavior measures. Emotional distress measures were obtained for 694 of these individuals at age 35. Of the personality attributes, 3 of 4 (except behavioral inhibition) predicted general levels of distress as well as specific aspects of ioral adult emotional functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The aging survivor of the holocaust. Discussion: reconciliation between the generations: a last chance

Reconciliation of conflicts between aged parents and their adult offspring is a criterion of successful aging. It requires inner psychological changes in those involved. Dr. Herzog's case history illustrates such inner change in the son of an aged father who was a survivor of the Holocaust. The patient had suffered a form of transmitted traumatization affecting his psychological development. Studies of posttraumatic reactions of survivors and of traumatization in the second generation have been reviewed briefly. Persistent aftereffects of trauma may aggravate problems of aging. As the example given in this paper illustrates, knowledge of the impact of the Holocaust experience can help us to recognize transmitted traumatization in individuals whose experiences were not related to the Holocaust.     

Holocaust survivors and escapees: Their strengths.

The conclusions clinicians have drawn about Holocaust survivors over the last 50 yrs differ sharply from researchers' findings. It is important to evaluate these discrepancies since different perceptions of survivors affect treatment approaches. The researchers' view, stressing the survivor's resilience and resourcefulness, contrasts with clinical impressions centering on a survivor syndrome involving deep emotional disturbances as residues of the Holocaust experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)