[Do German World War II victims fulfill PTSD-criteria?]

Psychiatr Prax. 2007 Apr;34(3):122-8. doi: 10.1055/s-2006-951842.
[Article in German]

Abstract

Objective: Long-term psychiatric consequences of World War II are currently a main medical and political topic in Germany.

Methods: This retrospective study examined 33 psychogeriatric cases.

Result: PTSD-criteria following ICD-10 were fulfilled in every case. All patients had a delayed subtype of PTSD with a latency of 14-60 years between trauma and onset of disorder. No case of chronic PTSD was found. In 26 cases a depression was diagnosed.

Conclusions: Long latencies for PTSD are a typical feature in psychogeriatrics, possibly due to the situation in post-war-Germany probably even more in the Soviet occupied zone, the later German Democratic Republic (GDR). In the GDR it was not at all a public topic to speak about Russian violence (political taboo). The depressive and psychotic comorbidity of psychogeriatric PTSD-patients should be examined more specifically in future studies.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Combat Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Combat Disorders / psychology
  • Comorbidity
  • Crime Victims / psychology*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Depressive Disorder / diagnosis
  • Depressive Disorder / epidemiology
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Germany
  • Humans
  • International Classification of Diseases
  • Male
  • Mental Recall
  • Psychotic Disorders / diagnosis
  • Psychotic Disorders / epidemiology
  • Psychotic Disorders / psychology
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / diagnosis*
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / epidemiology
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology
  • Substance-Related Disorders / diagnosis
  • Substance-Related Disorders / epidemiology
  • Substance-Related Disorders / psychology
  • World War II*