GROUP THERAPEUTIC EXPERIENCES IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP

Abstract

The following exposition is supported by my own observations and experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Dachau, and Theresien- stadt (1). However, before I take up the specific experiences with psychotherapy and group psychotherapy, it seems to me advisable first to say a few words about the psychopathology of prison camp life. This may at the same time be a contribution to the knowledge of those syndromes which long since have been called prison psychoses, but especially of that condition which in the first World War was described as "barbed wire disease." Within the psychology of camp life there can he distinguish three phases: 1) the shock of entrance, 2) the typical changes in character that occur with the duration of stay, and 3) the dismissal phase