[Do German World War II victims fulfill PTSD-criteria?].
OBJECTIVE
Long-term psychiatric consequences of World War II are currently a main medical and political topic in Germany.


METHODS
This retrospective study examined 33 psychogeriatric cases.


RESULTS
PTSD-criteria following ICD-10 were fulfilled in every case. All patients had a delayed subtype of PTSD with a latency of 14-60 years between trauma and onset of disorder. No case of chronic PTSD was found. In 26 cases a depression was diagnosed.


CONCLUSIONS
Long latencies for PTSD are a typical feature in psychogeriatrics, possibly due to the situation in post-war-Germany probably even more in the Soviet occupied zone, the later German Democratic Republic (GDR). In the GDR it was not at all a public topic to speak about Russian violence (political taboo). The depressive and psychotic comorbidity of psychogeriatric PTSD-patients should be examined more specifically in future studies.
Böwing
Georgia
G
Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Röbel im Müritz-Klinikum, and Ruhr-Universität, Germany. georgia.boewing@mueritz-klinikum.de
Schmidt
Kai Ulrich
KU
Schröder
Stefan Georg
SG
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D047789:World War II