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Chronic pain in Holocaust survivors
A Yaari1, E Eisenberg, R Adler
1Pain Relief Unit, Rambam Medical Center, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|March 31, 1999
Summary
Holocaust survivors experience chronic pain and depression decades after the war, yet maintain high activity levels. This paradoxical pain profile suggests a resilience strategy against trauma
Area of Science:
- Medical Psychology
- Trauma Studies
- Pain Research
Background:
- Limited research exists on the long-term effects of the Holocaust on chronic pain.
- Survivors often experience medical and psychological sequelae.
- Understanding these long-term impacts is crucial for survivor care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize chronic pain in Holocaust survivors 50 years post-war.
- To compare pain and psychological factors between survivors and controls.
- To explore the link between past trauma and current chronic pain.
Main Methods:
- Questionnaires assessed medical history, pain (VAS, MPQ), depression (BDI), psychological distress (SCL-90), and disability (PDI).
- Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and ANOVA compared survivor and control groups.
- Canonical discriminant analysis investigated trauma-pain connections.
Main Results:
- Holocaust survivors reported higher pain levels, more pain sites, and greater depression than controls.
- Survivors utilized more medical services but did not perceive themselves as more disabled.
- Survivors demonstrated higher activity levels and spent less time resting.
Conclusions:
- Holocaust survivors exhibit a unique chronic pain profile: high pain intensity, significant depression, and high activity levels.
- This paradoxical presentation may reflect a coping mechanism against pain and distress.
- Holocaust atrocities have lasting effects on survivors' chronic pain, even decades later.