The Journey of Finding Meaning in Life: Posttraumatic Growth Experience in Notable Holocaust Survivors
- DOI
- 10.2991/iciap-18.2019.36How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- Holocaust, posttraumatic growth, life narrative, presence of meaning, searching for meaning
- Abstract
Posttraumatic growth (PTG) refers to the occurrence of positive psychological changes following a traumatic event. The Holocaust was one of the most traumatic events in modern civilization, yet many Holocaust survivors have found meaning even in this painful experience, and their search for and discovery of meaning in life has been an important part of their journey toward positive change. Few studies have closely examined survivors’ perspective on how the process of searching for and finding meaning in life helped them to experience PTG. In this study, we applied the method of psychobiography to analyze the autobiographies of Viktor Frankl and Elie Wiesel, using a film documentary and Internet articles for data triangulation. Theoretical conceptions of PTG and of meaning in life were used as a framework to interpret the autobiographies. The analysis determined that Frankl and Wiesel demonstrated positive development in every domain of posttraumatic growth. The process of discovering newfound meaning was central in their PTG experiences. Differences between their personal journeys may be attributable to background factors such as their age, previous exposure to Nazism, personal characteristics, and camp experiences. Clinicians could use the results of this study to foster PTG in their therapeutic work or, in broader settings, to help people in societies with histories of mass violence or genocide to cope with their trauma.
- Copyright
- © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Sri Wulandari AU - Elizabeth Kristi Poerwandari AU - Augustine A. Basri PY - 2019/08 DA - 2019/08 TI - The Journey of Finding Meaning in Life: Posttraumatic Growth Experience in Notable Holocaust Survivors BT - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Intervention and Applied Psychology (ICIAP 2018) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 444 EP - 457 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/iciap-18.2019.36 DO - 10.2991/iciap-18.2019.36 ID - Wulandari2019/08 ER -