Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:865-868
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder among second-generation Holocaust survivors: preliminary findings
Z Solomon, M Kotler and M Mikulincer
Department of Mental Health, Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps.
The authors assessed the impact of the Nazi Holocaust on the course and
symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Israeli combat
stress reaction casualties. They examined a sample of 96 such casualties of
the 1982 Lebanon War whose parents had gone through the Nazi Holocaust and
compared them to casualties who did not have such family history for 3
consecutive years beginning 1 year after their participation in the war.
Results showed that 2 and 3 years after their participation in the 1982
Lebanon War, the children of Holocaust survivors, i.e., "second-generation"
casualties, had higher rates of PTSD than did the control subjects, as well
as a somewhat different clinical picture. Clinical and methodological
implications of the findings are discussed.
