Biopsychosocial analysis of Henry Schein, Holocaust survivor

Social Work

Narrative

Henry Schein celebrated his 80th birthday last April, surrounded by his family. However, Schein's family is scattered across the United States, and none of his three children are on speaking terms with the other. The following facts about Henry Schein are useful to know:

Holocaust survivor; was interred in a camp until liberation, when he was 5 years old.

He was the only one in his family that he knows of to survive

Schein was reunited with an uncle who had already moved to the U.S.A.

Lived in New York until he was 35, then moved to Miami

Became a schoolteacher, then quit to follow a dream of starting his own business

Wife of 25 years died of breast cancer.

Believes in hard work, discipline, but is not rigid.

His kids do not talk to each other for various reasons, and he does not like to get involved.

Critical Analysis

Piaget: Illustrates Schein's development through the traumatic childhood he had, through moving to the United States.

Fowler: Shows how Schein spent much of his adult life at Stage 4 (individuative-reflective faith), in which there is some tension regarding the struggle between earthly needs and commitment vs. The pull of myths, symbols, and the mysteries of faith.

Conflict theory: Schein has had innumerable experiences highlighting the importance of conflict theory, as a Holocaust survivor to someone who realized that anti-Semitism did not end with the Holocaust. Reveals the ways Schein has identified himself as Jewish, and illustrates how several of his formative career experiences have gone with regards to the experience of anti-Semitism. Also reveals the dynamics in the social system of his family, especially regarding the unresolved issues among his children.

Erikson psycho-social development: At the Ego Integrity vs. Despair stage, Schein faces mortality with an open mind, and yet feels conflicted and hurt by the fact that he might die without seeing his three children get along

Sue & Sue's Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model: Schein is emerging from the introspection stage, and developing more integrative awareness.

Narrative

Henry Schein celebrated his 80th birthday last April. Each of his three children visited him to celebrate separately, because none of them are on speaking terms with the other. Hi three children -- two males and one female -- live scattered across the United States. Henry says he does not want to get involved in the reasons why his children do not speak to one another, and distinctly wants to change the subject any time the conflict is brought up in conversation.

Henry Schein was born in Bamberg, Germany in 1933, the same year Hitler came to power. His parents were both schoolteachers. His mother taught violin and his father taught biology. When Henry was very young -- he does not even know exactly how old he was -- the family was taken to the camps in Poland. Henry was separated from his parents. At first, Henry was able to stay with his mother and then when Henry was about five years old, they were separated. Henry remained in the camps until liberation, when he was about ten years old. His memories of his early childhood are wrought with emotion, and the details are summarily fuzzy. Henry barely remembers his mother, and his father not at all. He has no photographs of them, save for what his first cousin found when performing some genealogical research. Henry was adopted by an organization that facilitated passage of children survivors, and he was sent to the United States because he had some relatives there.

When Henry was eleven, he made it to New York and lived with his uncle and his first cousins in Brooklyn. They shared a tiny apartment, with all the children in one small room. Henry's cousins included Harry, who is two years older, and Sabrina, who is a year younger. They had lived in New York since 1931. The uncle worked in a garment factory. His wife, Henry's aunt, died of tuberculosis. Henry struggled somewhat in school, but after graduation he decided to follow in his parents footsteps to become a teacher. Henry attended Brooklyn College, where he met his wife, Rose. Rose's family was middle class, whereas Henry's was more working class. Rose was also studying to be a schoolteacher. They both graduated the same year, but taught at different schools. Henry taught in the New York public school system until he was 35 years old, when he decided to make a dramatic change in his life and move to Miami in 1968. Rose was supportive of Henry's dream, especially as she did not mind the idea of moving to a warmer climate. Henry briefly considered moving to Israel, but decided that he preferred to follow his dream of starting a business. Both Henry and Rose wanted to be somewhere with a Jewish community, as all their lives they had lived in New York surrounded by a supportive Jewish community that understood their concerns, their need for social support, and their culture.

Rose was a religious woman, who wanted to remain in the Orthodox community in which she was raised. Henry was not as religious, but obliged his wife, and the two became active in the South Florida Jewish community. Through some contacts with former New Yorkers they met in Miami, Henry and Rose were able to establish themselves there. For Henry, religion was a source of cultural pride and connection, and he does not know if he believes in God. He has recently started to develop more of an interest in spiritual matters, though.

After moving to Miami, Henry started a bakery. This was something he had wanted to do since he was a child in Brooklyn and had happy memories of the Jewish bakeries there. His bakery did well, catering to the local Jewish community. Rose remained a schoolteacher until she died at age 50.

Henry and Rose had three children together: Bernard, Claire, and Edwin, in that order. Claire was sick frequently, and her condition placed a considerable degree of financial and emotional burden on Henry and Rose. Bernard has what Henry describes as a "type A" personality. He is bossy, aggressive, and domineering. Bernard is an attorney who lives in Los Angeles. Claire is a housewife, who has three children from her first marriage. She and her second husband live in Boca Raton, but the three children live with the father and Henry rarely sees them. Edwin lives in New York City. He is gay, has a long-term live-in partner, and is a communications director for an art organization. Henry describes his parenting style as "firm," and says he believes in discipline. However, he also admits that he does not interfere with his children's lives. Henry said that his wife tended to be stricter with the children, whereas he was viewed as the "fun" parent. He says the children had a happy childhood in a stable household, but that later in life they developed strong dislikes for one another for reasons beyond his control. Henry claims that Claire deliberately isolates herself, and rarely talks to him or her siblings. Bernard is too busy and wrapped up in his life, and had a major falling out with Edwin. Henry claims that Edwin had wanted Bernard's advice as legal counsel, but Bernard insisted on charging him and Edwin was not happy.

Rose died of breast cancer, after fighting it for four years. Her death deepened the rift between the three children, who bickered over her estate. Henry was relieved to see that Rose was no longer suffering, but his life changed dramatically since she died because "she was the life of the party," and Henry barely socializes any more now that Rose is gone. His son Edwin visits three times per year. Bernard hardly visits; maybe he comes out once every three to four years but usually when it is combined with a business trip. He sees Claire about once per month or once every two months.

If he has a motto to live by, it would be, "Do your best." Henry feels that there is not much that can be done about things like luck, but that each person can dig deep to find the energy and wherewithal to achieve personal goals. Since Rose's death, Henry has been less involved with the Jewish community. He does not have many friends, but he has two or three that he sees regularly. One of his best friends passed away last fall and left Henry thinking deeper than ever about his own mortality. If he had a chance to live life over, he would not. Henry says that he lived a good life, has overcome his challenges well, and although he misses Rose, feels relatively satisfied. Henry does note that he wished he had the opportunity to travel more, because now that he is old, he feels too tired to do anything.

Critical Analysis

Henry's life can be analyzed in terms of Piaget's developmental stages, Fowler's theory of faith development, conflict theory, Erikson's psycho-social development theory, empowerment theory, attachment theory, and Sue & Sue's racial/cultural identity development model.

Empowerment Theory

First, Empowerment theory explains Schein's ability to cope and navigate change in his life (Zimmerman, 2000). It provides the orientation by which Schein locates himself in the community, and is especially helpful from the social worker's perspective. Empowerment theory extends beyond an analysis of the individual, to view the person as a part of the community and family organisms. Zimmerman's (2000) empowerment theory presents individual empowerment in terms of community. The community helps to empower the individual, while the individual derives a sense of personal power from the community. Community collective empowerment derives from individual contributions, which would explain the resilience of the Jewish immigrant communities of which Henry was a part in both New York and New Jersey.

Attachment Theory

Attachment theory is particularly important to apply to Henry Schein's case study. Henry was taken from his parents at a formative stage in his early childhood, and grew up amid the horrors of the concentration camp. Yet Henry demonstrates remarkable resilience. Attachment theory explains the paradox of Henry's healthy sense of attachment, as Henry's faith in his caregivers was transferred to faith in his Jewish community. This sense of trust developed through bonds with caregivers who looked after him in the camps, and later when he came to America. His uncle cared for him as a parent, which reinforced his trust. In fact, Bowlby's original postulation regarding attachment is that infants do develop strong attachments to their parents but these attachments may be relocated to other caregivers (Bretherton, 1992).

Piaget's Developmental Theory

Piaget's developmental theory applies mainly to Henry's childhood. However, recent research reveals that the brain does continue to develop in ways that would suggest another stage of development. Lemieux (2012) calls the latter stage of development the post-formal stage, because it occurs after the last stage that Piaget postulated, which is the formal stage. A search for wisdom and dialectical thought are the cornerstones of this final stage of development, which applies mainly to the senior years.

Henry's childhood was traumatic, as most of it was spent in a concentration camp. During the first two years of his life, Henry was not in the camps. He lived with his parents in the town of Bamberg. This is where Henry spent the sensory-motor phase of his early development. His interactions with the world would have been strongly colored by his parents' influence, as both were teachers who were eager to encourage their child to interact with the environment, manipulate objects, learn faces, and gradually progress experimenting with language.

During the preoperational stage, Henry deepens his language skills. He learns Yiddish and German while in the concentration camps. Because he spends this critical stage in the camps, impacting the development of egocentrism typical for this age (Marlowe & Canestrari, 2006, p. 101). At this stage, young Henry was ascertaining information about the world through other people. He was observing the ways different people of different ages dealt with the trauma of being inside the concentration camp. Moreover, Henry observed and learned reactions to injustice. By being a part of the concentration camp, Henry also learned about the different roles of the German authorities, and began to use symbolic and some primitive abstract thinking in meaningful ways that would impact his intelligence in spite of his not having formal schooling.

The next stage in Piaget's theory is formal operations. It was at this stage Henry came of age, developed the abstract and formal thinking necessary to accommodate new information as an adult, and also to process that information. Henry remained at this stage throughout his adult years. After experiencing the death of his wife, and living alone, Henry has reached another critical stage of learning that relates to the impetus to transform knowledge into wisdom. Lemieux (2012) presents the post-formal stage as being critical especially to gerontological care. Older adults think qualitatively differently from younger adults, as recent neurobiological research is starting to reveal (Lemieux, 2012).

Fowler's Theory of Faith Development

Henry's life is also understood well within the framework of Fowler's theory of faith development. Fowler's faith development model merges liberal Christian theological philosophies with developmental psychology. Although Fowler's theory of faith development begins from a Christian standpoint, it can easily be applied to individuals with other ethnic and religious backgrounds like Henry Schein. The theory applies to general evolution of belief in a higher power, and how that belief impacts worldview, values, ethics, beliefs, meaning, and relationships (Fowler & Dell, 2006). Moreover, the Fowler model of faith development is rooted in empiricism, making it more grounded in psychology than religion per se. The theory accounts for the development of the individual's sense of self, personal identity, and metaphysical awareness. Thus, Fowler's theory can be applied to the way Henry is currently exploring alternative models and worldviews, leading him from a position of agnosticism toward a better defined personal spirituality.

For Henry, Judaism was a part of his identity and culture that was literally etched onto his memory from the concentration camps and the scars he has from the experience. Henry claims that as a young child, he did believe in God because the people in the concentration camps consciously developed a personal faith that helped them to cultivate hope in the midst of despair. This offered Henry a wellspring of resilience that he would not have been able to cultivate on his own, and Henry emphasizes the fact that social aspects of religion were more important to him than the actual personal relationship one develops with God. He retained a strong sense of connection to a community of individuals who, though shared ethnic heritage, created a sort of higher power even when Henry Schein did not actively pray or think about "God." This social aspect of Schein's religious experience encapsulates his development within the Fowler model of faith development.

Fowler postulates stages of development in faith, just as Piaget presents stages in intellectual and cognitive development. The first stage in Fowler's model is Primal Faith. The attachment and bonding with the parent is a formative experience, wherein the individual develops faith or trust in the caregiver.During toddlerhood and early childhood, the stage of faith development is known as intuitive-projective faith. Some survivors have, as Schein puts it, attributed their survival to God. For Schein, God may or may not have intervened in his life but he knows for sure that his sense of trust in his fellow community of survivors and the Jewish family overall has been responsible for keeping Henry from falling into depression or suicidal ideation. Henry recalls the way the people around him in the camp would sing songs and say prayers together regularly, and these prayers and songs are internalized into him and part of "who I am," as Henry puts it. According to Fowler's theory, the intuitive-projective faith stage is when the individual becomes inculcated into cultural rituals like these.

The next stage is the mythic-literal stage, during which time the individual resonates with a dualistic vision of God, and other accessible versions of complex spiritual realities. This is soon followed by a stage at which the individual develops faith within the community. Fowler's synthetic-conventional faith applies at around 12 years of age. For Henry, the synthetic-conventional faith model has become crucial to his adult life, which is why it makes sense that this stage was concurrent with Henry's being liberated from the concentration camp. It was during this critical juncture that Henry viewed Judaism as the link between himself and a community, or between himself and something greater than himself. He had no family members in the camps, but when he was sent to the United States he retained a sense of trust and faith that whoever was greeting him would be a good person. He trusted that wherever he was sent would be better than what he had known as a child. Thus, his faith in the community remained reinforced.

The individuative-reflective stage allows for critical thinking and re-evaluation of ingrained religious thought. Henry realized at some point that his religiosity was in fact qualitatively different from his wife's, because she did genuinely believe in God and was superstitious. Henry was never superstitious and believed that there may be a God but was not sure if the Bible was the key to understanding God. Fowler postulated two late-stages of spiritual development, which are conjunctive and universalizing. Although few adults will reach these stages, it would seem that Henry's recent conceptualizing of his role in the universe indicates the stirrings of conjunctive faith. Fowler's theory of faith development is perhaps the most appropriate framework for understanding Henry Schein's life.

Conflict Theory

However, Henry had innumerable experiences highlighting the importance of conflict theory too. As a Holocaust survivor, Henry was exposed to social injustice and inequity at an early age. Although he spent his adolescence and adulthood in Jewish communities, he always remained conscious of the fact that anti-Semitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust. Through meeting other Jews from around the world, Henry understood that social stratification and conflict define status and power in every community. Schein has identified himself proudly as Jewish, regardless of whether the other person might be anti-Semitic. He notes that every Jew he knows experienced anti-Semitism in some way, at some time. As Lancee & Pardos-Prado (2013) point out, anti-immigrant sentiments in the United States and other immigrant nations are driven by conflict theory related to competition for perceived limited financial resources.