Psychiatric casualties of World War II
Macleod, A.D.
New Zealand Medical Journal 113(1112): 248-250
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-8446 PMID: 10914508 Document Number: 513920
Aims. To observe the natural history of traumatised war veterans. Methods. A clinical audit of 147 World War II psychiatric war pensioners. Results. Of these veterans only 37% have a clinically sustainable DSM diagnosis of chronic post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma-related and somatic symptoms of severity attributable to active war service, were volunteered by 48%. These symptoms were insufficient to fulfill DSM diagnosis criteria for PTSD. Conclusions. PTSD is a robust clinical entity, yet many victims of trauma appear to suffer chronic sub-syndromal PTSD. The clinical spectrum of trauma response is more variable than is currently diagnostically acceptable by DSM criteria.