A cross-national study of posttraumatic stress disorder in Dutch-Australian immigrants

Objective: Studying the rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pe ople who experienced World War ii, but who have subsequently lived in diffe rent environments is a way of looking at the impact of recovery environment on PTSD. Immigrants had less support in terms of the social cohesion in th eir home country, but were not subjected to the same triggers of war-relate d intrusions. Method: Posttraumatic stress disorder was investigated in citizens from the Netherlands who emigrated to Australia in the post-World War Il years (n = 251). Immigrants born between 1920 and 1930 (n = 171) were compared with a same-aged group living in Holland (n = 1461) for stressful war experiences and the extent of PTSD. Results: Those who had been exposed to the most severe war stress were over represented in the immigrant group. Immigrants with current PTSD more often stated that motives for migration were threat of a third world war, disapp ointment with Dutch society and personal problems, We were unable to demons trate specific effects of emigration on the prevalence of current PTSD. Conclusions: This study suggests that exposure to severe war stress promote d the need to emigrate. The comparable PTSD scores of the groups of war vic tims living in Australia and the Netherlands support the notion that extrem e war stress may be considered the primary determining factor in the develo pment of PTSD, and that actual post-war living circumstances are, in the lo ng term, of subordinate importance.