Vicarious Group Trauma among British Jews

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11133-016-9337-4Given that literature on the intra- and inter-generational transmission of traumas is mainly based on secondary literature and focuses on the transmission of trauma memory in terms of the historical knowledge of group trauma, this article develops the theory of vicarious group trauma and tests this theory by exploring vicarious traumatization in the everyday lives of Jews in Britain through the methods of observation and in-depth interviewing. Vicarious group trauma is defined as a life or safety-threatening event or abuse that happened to some members of a social group but is felt by other members as their own experience because of their personal affiliation with the group. The article finds that the vicarious sensation of traumatic group experiences can create anxiety, elicit perceptions of threat and, by extension, hypervigilance among Jews. The findings demonstrate that group traumas of the past interpenetrate and interweave with members’ current lives and in this way can also become constitutive of their group identity. An institutional focus on threats to Jews can inform the construction and reinforcement of traumatization symptoms and accordingly vicarious group trauma. This article suggests an association between the level of involvement of group members in the collective’s social structure and the prominence of vicarious group trauma among them

Adapting a perinatal empathic training method from South Africa to Germany

Background: Maternal mental health conditions are prevalent across the world. For women, the perinatal period is associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety. At the same time, there is widespread documentation of disrespectful care for women by maternity health staff. Improving the empathic engagement skills of maternity healthcare workers may enable them to respond to the mental health needs of their clients more effectively. In South Africa, a participatory empathic training method, the “Secret History” has been used as part of a national Department of Health training program with maternity staff and has showed promising results. For this paper, we aimed to describe an adaptation of the Secret History empathic training method from the South African to the German setting and to evaluate the adapted training. Methods: The pilot study occurred in an academic medical center in Germany. A focus group (n = 8) was used to adapt the training by describing the local context and changing the materials to be relevant to Germany. After adapting the materials, the pilot training was conducted with a mixed group of professionals (n = 15), many of whom were trainers themselves. A pre-post survey assessed the participants’ empathy levels and attitudes towards the training method. Results: In adapting the materials, the focus group discussion generated several experiences that were considered to be typical interpersonal and structural challenges facing healthcare workers in maternal care in Germany. These experiences were crafted into case scenarios that then formed the basis of the activities used in the Secret History empathic training pilot. Evaluation of the pilot training showed that although the participants had high levels of empathy in the pre-phase (100% estimated their empathic ability as high or very high), 69% became more aware of their own emotional experiences with patients and the need for self-care after the training. A majority, or 85%, indicated that the training was relevant to their work as clinicians and trainers, that it reflected the German situation, and that it may be useful ultimately to address emotional distress in mothers in the perinatal phase. Conclusions: Our study suggests that it is possible to adapt an empathic training method developed in a South African setting and apply it to a German setting, and that it is well received by participants who may be involved in healthcare worker training. More research is needed to assess adaptations with other groups of healthcare workers in different settings and to assess empathic skill outcomes for participants and women in the perinatal period

Trace elements in glucometabolic disorders: an update

Many trace elements, among which metals, are indispensable for proper functioning of a myriad of biochemical reactions, more particularly as enzyme cofactors. This is particularly true for the vast set of processes involved in regulation of glucose homeostasis, being it in glucose metabolism itself or in hormonal control, especially insulin. The role and importance of trace elements such as chromium, zinc, selenium, lithium and vanadium are much less evident and subjected to chronic debate. This review updates our actual knowledge concerning these five trace elements. A careful survey of the literature shows that while theoretical postulates from some key roles of these elements had led to real hopes for therapy of insulin resistance and diabetes, the limited experience based on available data indicates that beneficial effects and use of most of them are subjected to caution, given the narrow window between safe and unsafe doses. Clear therapeutic benefit in these pathologies is presently doubtful but some data indicate that these metals may have a clinical interest in patients presenting deficiencies in individual metal levels. The same holds true for an association of some trace elements such as chromium or zinc with oral antidiabetics. However, this area is essentially unexplored in adequate clinical trials, which are worth being performed