The ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict has its impact on the mental health system. This issue is investigated from the point of view of the interactional process in the locked unit mainly between the Arab nurse and the Jewish psychotic patient.
The unique experience of being treated by the formal enemy during one of the most vulnerable periods seems to be sometimes even therapeutic for the patient. Aspects concerning psychopathology, psychodynamics and social interaction are evaluated through observation and interviews with patients and staff members. Ways of dealing with the complicated issues are discussed.
References
1.
Gorkin, M. (1986) Countertransference in cross-cultural psychotherapy: the example of Jewish therapist and Arab patient. Psychiatry , 49, 69-79.
2.
Gorkin, M., Masalcha, S. & Yatziv, G. (1985) Psychotherapy of Israeli-Arab patients: some cultural considerations. Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology, 8, 213-215.
3.
Hightower, N.A., Rodrigues, S. & Adams, J. (1983) Ethnically mixed co-therapy with families. Family Therapy, 10, 105-110.
4.
Jein, R.F. & Harris, B.L. (1989) Cross cultural conflict: the American nurse manager and culturally mixed staff. J-N- Y State Nurses Association , 20:2, 16-20.
5.
Katz, P. & Kirkland, F.R. (1990) Violence and social structure in mental hospital wards, Psychiatry, 55, 262-277.
6.
Rich, W. (1975) Special role and the expectation of black administrators of neighborhood mental health programs. Community Mental Health Journal, 11, 394-401.
7.
Sodano, A.G. & Bailer, S.F.Accommodation to contrast: being different in the organization. New Directions for Mental Health Services, 20, 25-36.
8.
Stanton, A. & Schwartz, U. (1954) The Mental Hospital. New York : Basic Books.
9.
Winnicott, D.W. (1975) Hate in the countertransference. In Through Pediatrics to Psychoanalysis. New York: Basic Books.
