Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:554-559
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
PTSD among Israeli former prisoners of war and soldiers with combat stress reaction: a longitudinal study
Z Solomon, Y Neria, A Ohry, M Waysman and K Ginzburg
Mental Health Department, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the long-term impact of war
captivity and combat stress reaction on rates of posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) in Israeli veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur war. METHOD: One
hundred sixty-four former prisoners of war (POWs), 112 veterans who had had
combat stress reaction, and 184 combat veteran comparison subjects filled
out the PTSD Inventory, a self-report scale based on the DSM-III-R criteria
for PTSD. The inventory diagnoses past and present PTSD, assesses its
intensity, and provides a symptom profile. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent of
the veterans who had had combat stress reaction, 23% of the former POWs,
and 14% of the comparison subjects had had diagnosable PTSD at some time in
the past. The current rates were 13%, 13%, and 3%, respectively. The
results showed different recovery rates over time: almost two-thirds of the
veterans with combat stress reaction who had had PTSD in the past
recovered, while less than one-half of the POW group showed this
improvement. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that small but
significant proportions of the POWs and veterans with combat stress
reaction were still suffering from PTSD almost two decades after the war.
The different recovery rates in the two groups may reflect the differences
in duration and severity of stressors, the impact of immediate intervention
on long-term adjustment, or both.
