Fifty years later: the long-term psychological adjustment of ageing World War II survivors

Objective: Most studies of the. long-term after-effects of war have focused on survivors seeking treatment or financial compensation. The present stud y examined the current psychological adjustment of a community sample of ag eing World War II (WW II) survivors, including survivors of bombardments, p ersecution, resistance, combat and other violence. Method: A community sample of 4057 Dutch WW II survivors answered a 4-page postal questionnaire. Of these, 1461 survivors answered a second follow-up questionnaire. Results: Even 50 years after World War II, a statistically significant but modest relationship was found to exist between exposure to shocking war eve nts and current psychological adjustment in terms of symptoms of post-traum atic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and anger. A total of 66 respondents ( 4.6%) met the criteria for PTSD. The highest level of current PTSD (13%) wa s found among survivors of persecution. The lowest level of PTSD (4%) was f ound among civilian war victims and resistance participants, while military veterans had an intermediate score (7%). With regard to absolute numbers, civilian war victims represented the largest proportion of PTSD sufferers. Conclusion: In a study of a community sample of WW II survivors, we found t hat most of these survivors had no severe symptoms of PTSD. Nevertheless, p robably tens of thousands of Dutch individuals are still suffering from lon g-term after-effects from World War II. For these vulnerable survivors, the ageing process will complicate the coping process.