Diagnosis of Holocaust survivors and their children

Survivors of the Holocaust and their children have tended not to be given formal diagnoses by their therapists. There seem to be a series of reasons: the events themselves were so terrible that it seems inappropriate to focus on the response, diagnosis implies comparing the condition with responses to other more minor traumata, the process of diagnosis is dehumanizing, the evil nature of the perpetrator is neglected, therapists feel it distances them from their patients, and it ignores the extraordinary achievements of many survivors who cope and live full lives. The DSM and its five axes are proposed as a suitable diagnostic vehicle, and Holocaust survivors with serious symptoms will tend to be diagnosed as chronic PTSD, child survivors as complex PTSD often with associated personality disorders, and second generation may well have identity problems and personality disorders. Only by using diagnoses can comparable research be carried out.