‘Holocaust Journeys’ Can Cause Mental Health Problems

A new study led by Tel Aviv University researchers finds that the Holocaust education trips Israeli high school students take to Poland every year can trigger mental health problems.

MedicalXPress
August 22, 2013

holocaustjouAbout a third of the psychiatric professionals surveyed in this pilot study said they had treated teenagers for psychological problems arising from the Holocaust education trips. While most of the teenagers were treated for less severe symptoms such as anxiety, adjustment, and mood disorders, reports also cited hospitalization, , and psychosis.

In the majority of cases, the affected teenagers exhibited risk factors—like psychiatric or family crises or social difficulties—prior to the Holocaust education trips. Others had during the trips, such as being bullied, that were unrelated to Holocaust education.

“The trips to Poland appear to pose a risk primarily to adolescents with histories of ,” says Dr. Yuval Bloch of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and head of the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic at Shalvata Mental Health Center. Dr. Bloch was prompted to conduct the study with his wife Dr. Aviva Mimouni-Bloch, also a lecturer in the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and head of the Neuropediatric Unit at Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Hospital, after she and their son went on one of the trips.

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