1. Katarzyna Prot-Klinger Maria Grzegorzewska University
Psychotherapy as a process of empowering the elderly – as exemplified by work with the Holocaust survivors
Katarzyna Prot-Klinger
Maria Grzegorzewska University

2. Group psychotherapy
a marathon model: 6 hours of therapy daily for 3 days, held a year
1996 r – about 80 participants. Each meeting was attended by persons working in four groups.
therapeutic groups have been reduced to some 7-8 persons (about 30 participants).
Lack of qualification to the group („selection”, „exclusion”)

3. Psychological problem of the Holocaust survivors in Poland
loneliness, a sense of isolation
difficulty in interpersonal contacts, also with people closest to them
re-activation of trauma
secret of survivors’ Jewish background and the secret of the Holocaust experiences

4. The subgroups of Holocaust survivors
„Older” - survived the war consciously – being aware of dangers, and sometimes feeling responsible for others
„Younger” – „hidden children” - none or only fragmentary memories of that war. They have learned about their family history at a later age, sometimes in adulthood

5. „Aintegration” (Lomranz)
person’s ability to have a sense of integrity without necessarily integrating all their experiences and emotions
particularly the elderly can develop the skill of tolerating thoughts, emotions, events and behaviors that seem inconsistent in either the personal or cultural dimension, at the same keeping their balance without a sense of discomfort or fragmentation
aintegration enables them to experience contradictions separately, without the necessity of their integration, and besides does not involve any changes in their feeling of continuity within “self”.

6. Survivors’ actual problems in the context of their past experiences
illness may denote a recurrence of situations where disability was equal to certainty of death
hospitalization may be experienced as being imprisoned in a camp again, which may lead to psychotic-like disorders.
invasive medical procedures where the patient has no control over what is happening to him may provoke re-traumatization and the onset of symptoms similar to flashbacks
changes associated with marked dependence on others can result in a sense of losing control over one’s life that in turn may cause the onset of PTSD symptoms

7. Childhood trauma
Very young age of the victim makes him or her particularly vulnerable to the onset of psychopathological symptoms after a traumatic event. Such symptoms develop even if the person exposed to trauma was too young to remember the traumatic experience.
If we fail to consider early-life experiences of the elderly person we are unable to comprehend their whole mental and emotional life and their responses to common everyday problems.
Caregivers for people in the final stages of life should be aware that our attitudes towards accepting care and our ability to experience pleasure from receiving care develop during early stages of life. People left without “good enough” care in their early years can have difficulty with accepting it in their older age, and may even actively resist help.

8. The benefits of the psychotherapy
Change is possible even in advanced age.
Elderly persons can benefit from psychotherapeutic interventions, since they naturally tend to sum up their lives and are eager to reflect on their past.

9. My Jewish, My Polish Parents
„The exhibition created on the initiative of the survivors themselves recounts the history of fifteen children born between 1939 and They survived, on the one hand, thanks to unbounded love of their parents who had decided to give their children away to strangers, and on the other hand – owing to courage of those strangers who later considered the children to be their own daughters and sons.”

10. My Jewish, My Polish Parents
„Mother was cool in her relation with me –she did not cuddle me nor kiss me, I don’t remember her ever taking me on her knees.” “ I think that my mother was a nun, or wanted to be a nun. She chose to be a mother. For me.”

11. My Jewish, My Polish Parents
„My adoptive mother considered it her duty to raise me and though it was not easy for her, she managed to fulfil that duty. She did her best.”

12. My Jewish, My Polish Parents
„I am here today thanks to the love of my two mothers, Jewish an Polish. Thanks to a goodness which knew no fear in times when evil triumphed, and bestiality was unpunishable.”

13. Thank you