Difficulties in Psychotherapy of Victims of Man-Made Disasters

Abstract

After World War II only a limited number of surviving victims from jails and concentration camps and from other man-made disasters have been treated in such a manner that we could speak of a real recovery or cure. For the majority the treatment consisted of rest-cures, of regulating working conditions and of at least some assistance with family problems and finally, often after endless juridical procedures, retirement. These measures had to suffice to restore more or less the basic feelings of safety and security. For many victims, however, life remained so frustrating and insecure that the main conditions for starting psychotherapy were barely complied with. Only a few victims got the opportunity to undergo intensive psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. The results, even of intensive treatment, were often disappointing. Rarely was it possible to get to grips properly with the roots of the different survivor-syndromes, among which the KZ syndrome is the one that has been investigated most systematically.