(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

Introduction

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.

Keywords:

• Geriatric psychiatry
• Metacognition
• Metacognitions Questionnaire
• Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory
• Refugee
• Secondary trauma
• World War II

The present study was supported by the young scientist fund of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, awarded to Dr. Christoph Muhtz.

Notes

¹ The focus of a German population is not aimed to belittle the suffering of non-German populations. The impetus to study this population was not political but to deepen our understanding of the effects of displacement in general.