title: (Meta)cognitive beliefs in posttraumatic stress disorder following forced displacement at the end of the Second World War in older adults and their offspring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the present study was to investigate (meta)cognitive beliefs related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of individuals displaced as children at the end of the Second World War as well as transgenerational effects of trauma and PTSD on the offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  Displaced individuals with (n=20) and without PTSD (n=24) and nondisplaced healthy controls (n=11), as well as one of their adult offspring, were assessed with the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30). Older adults, formerly displaced in childhood, were additionally assessed with the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Dysfunctional beliefs (MCQ-30, PTCI) were particularly pronounced in formerly displaced individuals with PTSD, but not in the offspring generation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that in an aging group of displaced individuals with PTSD dysfunctional beliefs are associated with the disorder. Bias modification may help to attenuate symptomatology. No evidence was found for a transgenerational effect.
authors: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center , Hamburg , Germany.
authors: Lena
authors: L
authors: Jelinek
authors: Charlotte E
authors: CE
authors: Wittekind
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Kellner
authors: Steffen
authors: S
authors: Moritz
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Muhtz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D047789:World War II