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Emotional distress among concentration camp survivors – a community study in Jerusalem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

I. Levav  and
J. H. Abramson
I. Levav*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
J. H. Abramson
Affiliation:
Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization and Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
*
1 Address for correspondence: Dr I. Levav Department of Social Medicine, Hadassah Medical Organization and The Hebrew University – Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, P.O. Box 1172, Jerusalem 91010, Israel
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Synopsis

Three hundred and eighty former concentration camp inmates were identified and interviewed in the course of a community health survey in Jerusalem. A set of 8 questions derived from the Cornell Medical Index was used as an index of emotional distress. The concentration camp survivors had a higher prevalence of emotional distress and more symptoms of this type than other European-born members of the community, controlling for age and education. The findings suggested that 16·0% of the emotional distress observed in male camp survivors and 22·9% of that among female camp survivors could be attributed to the camp experience almost three decades after the Holocaust. In this survey, data were elicited in a context unrelated to benefit-seeking such as clinic or compensation claims.

Type
Brief Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 215 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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