Wandering instinct (human medicine)
Wandering is an outdated term that was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century in connection with assistance to the homeless, which at that time was still called assistance to the resident.
function
On the basis of human medical considerations, an attempt was made to demonstrate a "wandering instinct" that some people have. The wrong assumption led to the belief that in some people there was a genetic disposition for this instinct, which could be traced back to the fact that human ancestors were once flight animals . In nomads -Völkern this hereditary factor is particularly well represented. In the Third Reich , this view was taken as an opportunity to claim that reintegrating the homeless would be pointless and unprofitable, which justified the transfer of homeless people to concentration camps as "anti-social". In the post-war years, too, this misconception led to the fact that the homeless welfare department used the wrong approach and did not address the real causes of homelessness .
Background: The medical study of 1899
In a study by Ludwig Mayer from 1899, the migratory instinct was shown as the main cause of vagrancy . Since vagrancy was a criminal offense at this time, he wanted to question the prosecution with his psychiatric examinations - he spoke of an internal, compulsive urge to wander around . Subsequent investigations led to the fact that most of the tramps were no longer eligible for punishment. However, this explanatory approach had the consequence that the cause of homelessness is based purely on psychological deficits, which completely ignores structural and social problems and led to impoverished people being labeled as sick.
refutation
It was not until the 1970s that it was refuted that there is an impulse to migrate that is said to cause homelessness. Heinrich Holtmannspötter, the managing director of the Federal Association for Homeless Aid, was able to prove that it was not the person of the homeless, but the structure of the aid, namely the three-day residence limit by the social welfare provider, that was responsible for the fact that the homeless had to move on. Often the homeless who applied for help, usually a daily rate, at the social welfare offices, were issued a ticket to the next place after three days so that they could leave the place. The reason for the mobility of the homeless was not an urge to migrate or a non- sedentary lifestyle as a personality trait, but was based on the structure of the evacuation aid .
Demarcation
The “wandering instinct” must be strictly differentiated from mental disorders such as poriomania and the flight reflex, the “fugue” (from Latin: fuga = flight), a human behavior that is one of the dissociative disorders . It is a sudden compulsion to travel or migrate, which can be linked to a lack of memory. The sudden running away of people who suffer from an adjustment disorder is also included. See also the term wanderlust .
literature
- Eckhard Rohrmann (Ed.): Without work - without an apartment. How the poor become "sedentary". Edition Schindele, Heidelberg 1987.
- Norbert Preusser: ObDach, an introduction to the politics and practice of social segregation. Beltz, Weinheim, Basel 1993.
- Ursula Christiansen: Homeless because poor. 1977.
- Claus Paegelow: Handbook of homelessness and homelessness.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Wolfgang Ayaß : "Asoziale" im Nationalozialismus , Stuttgart 1995; ders. (arr.): "Community strangers". Sources on the persecution of "anti-social" 1933–1945 , Koblenz 1998.