The
Social-Psychological Aspects of Traumatic Experiences: Comments on
the Healing Process
Anna Ornstein, M.D.
This presentation
shall distinguish between the psychological consequences of acute
and chronic, individual and collective, between natural and man-made
disasters and between traumatic experiences of infancy and those
that had occurred in adult life. The focus shall be on the man-made
disasters: wars, political and social upheavals. The presentation
shall highlight the preventative potential of spontaneous group
formations as this occurs in extreme conditions (concentration
camps, jails, penal colonies) and detail the healing process, as
this may be conceptualized in various settings: individual,
therapeutic as well as self-help groups.
Dr. Anna Ornstein is Emerita Professor of Child
Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati. She is a Training and
Supervising Analyst at the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute and a
Supervising Analyst at the BPSI. Dr. Ornstein's publications range
from articles on the interpretive process in psychoanalysis,
psychoanalytic psychotherapy, child psychotherapy and the process of
recovery following the survival of extreme conditions. Anna Ornstein
is the Author of the recent book, My Mother's Eyes: Holocaust
Memories of a Young Girl.
