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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*
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

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
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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