Posttraumatic stress symptoms among Polish World War II survivors: the role of social acknowledgement

ABSTRACTBackground: There is growing evidence of the important role played by socio-interpersonal variables on the maintenance of PTSD. Many World War II survivors in Poland could, as a result of political circumstances during the aftermath of the war, have experienced a lack of social recognition of their war-related trauma.Objective: The main aim of the study was to examine the association between perceived social reactions and the level of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSD) and depression.Method: Participants (N = 120) were aged 71–97 years (M = 82.44; SD = 6.14). They completed a WWII trauma-related questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), the Impact of Events Scale (IES) and Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI). The Social Acknowledgement Questionnaire (SAQ) was used to measure participants’ perception of others’ acknowledgement and disapproval of their war trauma.Results: The rate of probable PTSD, diagnosed according to DSM-IV, was 38.3%. PTSD symptoms and General Disapproval were si...