Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center
Encyclopedia
Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center , established in 1951, is an Israel
i public psychiatric hospital
located between Givat Shaul
and Har Nof
, Jerusalem. It is affiliated with the Hadassah Medical Center
and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. The hospital is Jerusalem's designated psychiatric hospital for tourists who display mental health disturbances, and is widely known for its research on Jerusalem Syndrome
. It is also known for having been established on the intact Palestinian
village of Deir Yassin
, which was depopulated by Jewish paramilitary forces
in April 1948, one month before the creation of the state of Israel.
The hospital stands on the site of the former Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, which was invaded on April 9, 1948 by fighters from two paramilitary Zionist groups, from the Irgun
and the Lehi
, who sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem
. Around 107 villagers were killed, while Zionist casualties stood at 4 dead and 35 wounded. The village was subsequently taken over by the new State of Israel. Construction of the mental health facility began in 1951, using the villagers' houses and school. The new hospital at first housed a therapeutic community
of around 300 patients who spent almost all their time outdoors, and was called the Kfar Shaul Government Work Village for Mental Patients. In its early years, the majority of patients were Holocaust survivors.
, the Israeli film director, writes in Haaretz that it is in a dilapidated state; his film Forgiveness (2006) takes place at the hospital. It is one of the hospitals in Israel that has Snoezelen
rooms, a Dutch therapy technique which uses controlled stimulation of the five senses to benefit the mentally and physically disabled. It is known in particular for its association with Jerusalem Syndrome, a condition in which the sufferer is gripped by religious delusions. The hospital sees some 50 patients a year who are diagnosed with the condition. Israel psychologist Gregory Katz has said many of the patients are Pentecostals from rural parts of the United States and Scandinavia. The syndrome was first diagnosed in 1993 by Yair Bar-El, a former director of the hospital.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i public psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
located between Givat Shaul
Givat Shaul
Givat Shaul is a neighborhood in western Jerusalem named after the Rishon Lezion, Rabbi Yaakov Shaul Elyashar, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, and not, as commonly believed, for the biblical King Saul, whose capital was probably located on the hill Gibeah of Saul near Pisgat Ze'ev, on the way...
and Har Nof
Har Nof
Har Nof is a neighborhood on a hillside on the western boundary of Jerusalem, Israel, with a population of 20,000 residents, primarily Orthodox Jews.-History:...
, Jerusalem. It is affiliated with the Hadassah Medical Center
Hadassah Medical Center
Hadassah Medical Center is a medical organization that operates two University hospitals at Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel, as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.The hospital was founded by Hadassah,...
and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. The hospital is Jerusalem's designated psychiatric hospital for tourists who display mental health disturbances, and is widely known for its research on Jerusalem Syndrome
Jerusalem syndrome
The Jerusalem syndrome is a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences that are triggered by a visit to the city of Jerusalem...
. It is also known for having been established on the intact Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
village of Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin
Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews...
, which was depopulated by Jewish paramilitary forces
Yishuv
The Yishuv or Ha-Yishuv is the term referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel...
in April 1948, one month before the creation of the state of Israel.
History
Excavations carried out at the site in 2000 unearthed the remains of a winepress dated to the Byzantine or Roman era.The hospital stands on the site of the former Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, which was invaded on April 9, 1948 by fighters from two paramilitary Zionist groups, from the Irgun
Irgun
The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
and the Lehi
Lehi (group)
Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...
, who sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem (1948)
The Battle for Jerusalem occurred from 30 November 1947 to 11 June 1948 when Jewish and Arab population of Mandatory Palestine and later Israeli and Jordanian armies fought for the control of the city....
. Around 107 villagers were killed, while Zionist casualties stood at 4 dead and 35 wounded. The village was subsequently taken over by the new State of Israel. Construction of the mental health facility began in 1951, using the villagers' houses and school. The new hospital at first housed a therapeutic community
Therapeutic community
Therapeutic community is a term applied to a participative, group-based approach to long-term mental illness, personality disorders and drug addiction...
of around 300 patients who spent almost all their time outdoors, and was called the Kfar Shaul Government Work Village for Mental Patients. In its early years, the majority of patients were Holocaust survivors.
Research and facilities
Along with other psychiatric facilities in Israel, the hospital suffers from severe overcrowding and an average occupancy rate of 110 percent. Udi AloniUdi Aloni
Udi Aloni is an Israeli and American filmmaker, writer and visual artist whose works focus on the interrelationships between art, theory,and action. He began his career as a painter, establishing the Bugrashov gallery in Tel Aviv, a home for contemporary art, cultural and political events...
, the Israeli film director, writes in Haaretz that it is in a dilapidated state; his film Forgiveness (2006) takes place at the hospital. It is one of the hospitals in Israel that has Snoezelen
Snoezelen
Snoezelen or controlled multisensory Environment relates to the interdependence of both the space and the "client-centered" approach of the practitioner...
rooms, a Dutch therapy technique which uses controlled stimulation of the five senses to benefit the mentally and physically disabled. It is known in particular for its association with Jerusalem Syndrome, a condition in which the sufferer is gripped by religious delusions. The hospital sees some 50 patients a year who are diagnosed with the condition. Israel psychologist Gregory Katz has said many of the patients are Pentecostals from rural parts of the United States and Scandinavia. The syndrome was first diagnosed in 1993 by Yair Bar-El, a former director of the hospital.
Published research
- Bar-El, I. et al. "Psychiatric hospitalization of tourists in Jerusalem", Compr Psychiatry. 1991 May-Jun;32(3):238-44.
- Durst, R. et al. "Amnesiac state in a Holocaust survivor patient: Psychogenic versus neurological basis", Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 1999;36(1):47-54.
- Durst, R. et al. "Kleptomania: diagnosis and treatment options", CNS Drugs. 2001;15(3):185-95.
- Katz, G. et al. "Time zone change and major psychiatric morbidity: The results of a 6-year study in Jerusalem", Compr Psychiatry. 2002 Jan-Feb;43(1):37-40.
- Raskin, Sergey. "The concept of judgment in the medico-legal context: A view from Israel", Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care (2009), 5: 41-46.
- Zislin, Josef et al. "Male Genital Self-Mutilation in the Context of Religious Belief: The Jerusalem Syndrome", Transcultural Psychiatry, June 2002.
Further reading
- Lapidot, YehudaYehuda LapidotYehuda "Nimrod" Lapidot is an Israeli historian and former professor of biochemistry. Lapidot was a member of the Irgun and an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. In 1980 he was appointed head of Lishkat Hakesher by former Irgun commander and then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Lapidot...
(1992). Besieged, Jerusalem 1948: Memories of an Irgun Fighter. See part II, Jerusalem, for the section on Deir Yassin, accessed August 19, 2010. - McGowan, Daniel. Deir Yassin Remembered, video showing scenes of the village's houses inside the hospital, Deir Yassin Remembered, accessed August 19, 2010.
- McGowan, Daniel and Ellis, Marc. (eds) (1998). Remembering Deir Yassin: The Future of Israel and Palestine. Interlink Publishing Group.
- ZochrotZochrotZochrot is an Israeli-Jewish non-profit organization founded in 2002. Based in Tel Aviv, its aim is to promote awareness of the Palestinian Nakba , the 1948 Palestinian exodus. The group's director is Eitan Bronstein...
. "Remembering Deir Yassin", April 9, 2006, accessed August 19, 2010.