Psychological vulnerability and resilience of Holocaust survivors engaged in creative art.

Although evidence demonstrates that engagement in art promotes favorable coping with trauma, this subject is underexplored among Holocaust survivors. Thus, the present study explored whether Holocaust survivors engaged in art differed from survivors not engaged in art in various markers of psychological vulnerability and resilience. The study further included non-Holocaust survivor comparisons, some engaged in art and some not, in order to assess whether engagement in art among Holocaust survivors relates to a unique psychological profile beyond art engagement in general. A sample of 154 community-dwelling older adults (mean age = 81.67, SD = 5.33, range = 73-97) reported exposure to the Holocaust, current engagement in art, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, general psychological distress, resilience and subjective perceptions of age and aging. Holocaust survivors (regardless of whether they engaged in art or not) reported higher PTSD symptoms relative to comparisons. However, Holocaust survivors who engaged in art reported higher resilience than all other groups (survivors not engaged in art and comparisons engaged and not engaged in art). To the best of our knowledge, these findings are the first quantitative evidence pointing toward a link between engagement in art and positive coping with the Holocaust. These findings have important implications for clinicians working with Holocaust survivors.

How Do Meaning in Life and Positive Affect Relate to Adaptation to Stress? The Case of Firefighters Following the Mount Carmel Forest Fire.

BACKGROUND: We examined how positive affect (PA) and meaning in life (MIL) conjointly regulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and perceived coping self-efficacy. Hypotheses were guided by a recent holistic model, according to which PA and MIL should compensate for each other in relating to adaptation to high stress. METHOD: The sample included 75 Israeli firefighters who took active part in extinguishing the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire. RESULTS: PA and MIL helped to compensate for the other, demonstrating that when one of them was low, the other related to higher adaptation. That is, under low MIL, PA related to PTSD symptoms and coping self-efficacy, and under low PA, MIL related to PTSD symptoms and coping self-efficacy. LIMITATION: The study design was cross-sectional and therefore precluded any causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: The findings lend additional support to the holistic model and help to understand how subjective well-being and MIL correlate with adaptation to stress.

Psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians during the Gaza War: a repeated cross-sectional study.

Research regarding psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians during armed conflict is scarce. The current study compared psychosomatic symptoms of exposed and unexposed hospital physicians in two studies. The studies were conducted during 2009 and included a survey of two random samples of hospital physicians, one conducted during the Gaza War and the other conducted six months later. Each sample included hospital physicians who were directly exposed to war related stress and others who were not (Study 1: N = 54; Study 2: N = 31). In Study 1, exposed hospital physicians did not differ from unexposed physicians in the level of psychosomatic symptoms during the war (Psychosomatic Problems Scale 6.48 vs 4.09). However, in Study 2, exposed physicians reported a higher level of psychosomatic symptoms (10.33 vs 3.21). Moreover, analysis of covariance revealed a significant interaction effect of Exposure X Study (F = 7.976; p = .006; ?p2 = .100). Exposure to war-related stress takes a toll on psychosomatic symptoms among hospital physicians. This late onset of psychosomatic symptoms is discussed in light of the cognitive-energetical model.