The psychiatrically hospitalized survivors in Israel: A historical overview

Rakefet Zalashik

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

In the 1950s, mental problems among survivors in Israel were explained by migration difficulties. In the first decades after the establishment of Israel, the focus of psychiatric research was upon clinical survivors, but from the end of the 1970s, there was a gradual shift to the study of ‘healthy’ survivors who led ʼnormal’ lives. From the nosological perspective, in the first decade of the State of Israel the discussion focused on physical diseases, and later medical attention was also given to psychosomatic and mental diseases. In contrast to the scientific activity in Europe, and even after the arrival of survivors in Israel, there was no psychiatric study of the survivors’ condition. In psychiatric hospitals in Europe and the United States, one can find medical files in which patients’ experiences in the Holocaust were summarized in a single laconic sentence, “the patient is a concentration camp survivor”.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPsychoanalysis and Holocaust Testimony
Subtitle of host publicationUnwanted Memories of Social Trauma
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages185-194
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781317510048
ISBN (Print)9781138859203
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

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