Adult child survivor syndrome on deprived childhoods of aging Holocaust survivors

The present paper aims at understanding the psycho-(patho-)logical status o f aging chilli survivors (CSs) of the Holocaust. Background: CSs had depriv ed childhoods, were exposed to massive trauma and losses, then rebuilt thei r existences. Their post-Holocaust malaise was suppressed and split off fro m daily life and overt activities, only to reappear, after a delay, in diff erent forms and intensities, further aggravating upon aging. Method: Follow ing a definition of age, origin, number of living CSs, types of early traum atic impacts, and introductory remarks on what CSs experienced as children and as young adults in the postwar society, the psychosocial research on ad ult and aging CSs is reviewed. Results: The concept of childhood-deprivatio n and its late sequelae can be substantiated. Definitions of child-survivor complex, CS syndrome and adult child-survivor syndrome are proposed. Nonpr ofessional caretakers discerned earlier the existence or extent of the adul t CS syndrome Limitations of psychiatric investigation of ACs are the lack of agreed-upon diagnostic criteria.