PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN FEMALE CANCER-PATIENTS WITH HOLOCAUST EXPERIENCE

This study examined whether severe emotional and physical trauma in th e past affects the psychological condition of female patients currentl y afflicted with cancer. Using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), 41 w omen with cancer, who had sustained extreme trauma during the Nazi Hol ocaust of the midcentury, were compared with three different groups: a matched group of cancer patients without Holocaust experience, a phys ically healthy group of female Holocaust survivors, and healthy women without a Holocaust past. Although psychological distress was comparab le in the two healthy groups, it was far higher in Holocaust cancer pa tients than in either their non-Holocaust counterparts or in the group of healthy Holocaust survivors. These results may suggest that the se vere trauma of the Holocaust could be responsible for markedly diminis hed psychological response when such patients are confronted with new stress.