The Human Meaning of Total Disaster

Lifton, Robert Jay; Olson, Eric T.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-7021-5_22

Cited by 39 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Both of these actions altered the environment of Aberfan to take cognizance of the community. But, even more important, these group formulations indicated that the survivors did not internalize the lack of recognition of their worth which had been a contributing factor to their catastrophe, as it often is (Lifton & Olson, 1976;Perrow, 1986).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Completing this struggle successfully is central to the survivors' healing process and allows them to integrate the catastrophe into their lives and to restore and express meaning and significance in life (Lifton, 1979;Lifton & Olson, 1976).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…This discussion of group formulations extends the work on empowerment within community psychology in the following ways: First, it relates empowerment to the psychiatric and sociological literature on catastrophe in general and on group formulation in particular (Erikson, 1976;Lifton, 1979;Lifton & Olson, 1976;Perrow, 1986). Progress towards a theory of empowerment requires such interdisciplinary work (Rappaport, 1987).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Formulation is a term that Robert Jay Lifton uses to describe one element of survivors' struggle to find significance in the essence of a catastrophe, the "terror of premature, unacceptable dying" of people close to them (Lifton, 1979, p. 169). Completing this struggle successfully is central to the survivors' healing process and allows them to integrate the catastrophe into their lives and to restore and express meaning and significance in life (Lifton, 1979;Lifton & Olson, 1976).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Group formulations offer members of a group of similar individuals an activity or memorial expressing the sense that their common loss signifies something greater than their own shared bereavement. These group formulations are also intended to help others understand the significance of a catastrophe (Lifton & Olson, 1976). Group formulations stem from the survivors' belief that if they could be messengers of the terror they experienced to a world that valued or needed that information, "then what happened to them could be said to have a larger purpose" (Lifton, 1979, p. 176).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Catastrophe and community empowerment: The group formulations of aberfan's survivors

Couto

1989

J. Community Psychol.

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The residents of Aberfan, a coal‐mining village in South Wales, endured a terrible catastrophe which took the lives of 144 residents, 104 of them schoolchildren between the ages of 8 and 10. Twenty years after the catastrophe, there are group formulations, expressing the grief of the community and asserting its values in a manner inspired by the catastrophe, that resemble forms and stages of empowerment. This examination of them extends our knowledge of the process of empowerment. First, group formulations of a catastrophe are described as a mechanism of empowerment, resembling much of what we know about the stages of empowerment. Second, interviews with community leaders are described that indicate the limits of empowerment; specifically, that the assertion of community values is, in part, a protest of the political and economic factors which contributed to the catastrophe and continued to impede the well‐being of the community. The group formulations to deal with these factors and to establish a different set of political and economic factors demonstrate the important constraints on empowerment as a process.

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Catastrophe and community empowerment: The group formulations of aberfan's survivors

Couto

1989

J. Community Psychol.

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Introduction to the Special Issue on Moral Injury: Conceptual Challenges, Methodological Issues, and Clinical Applications

Litz

Kerig

2019

Journal of Traumatic Stress

217

224

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This article introduces a special issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress devoted to new directions in the study of moral injury (MI), defined as transgressive harms and the outcomes of those experiences. Although a significant body of research has emerged devoted to the study of the MI construct, a number of conceptual and empirical challenges have arisen; these are summarized and discussed in the present article. In addition, this article proposes ways of overcoming these challenges in order to further research and clinical practice in the field. We then go on to introduce the content and themes of the present collection of articles in this special issue, all of which provide examples of some of the most innovative and forward‐looking work on the topic and expand into new conceptual frameworks, new methods of investigation, and new populations and contexts.

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Psychological status of chernobyl nuclear power plant operators after the nuclear disaster

et al. 1993

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Chief operators at the Chemobyl power plant were assessed at four time points after the nuclear disaster and compared to a comparable group of chief operators at another nuclear power station. MMPI findings demonstrated a significant increase over time in health concerns, depression, and other indicators of stress in those operators working at the station at the time of the assessment. There was also an increase in the proportion with at least one MMPI clinical scale in the abnormal range. The authors hypothesize that the continuing uncertainty of the safety of working at Chemobyl may have contributed to these findings by either increasing the stress levek of those who remained at this power station, or through attracting workers who were less well adjusted before volunteering to work there.

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The Human Meaning of Total Disaster

Cited by 39 publications

References 7 publications

Catastrophe and community empowerment: The group formulations of aberfan's survivors

Catastrophe and community empowerment: The group formulations of aberfan's survivors

Introduction to the Special Issue on Moral Injury: Conceptual Challenges, Methodological Issues, and Clinical Applications

Psychological status of chernobyl nuclear power plant operators after the nuclear disaster

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