Mental illness severity and characteristics among holocaust survivor immigrants, Non-Holocaust immigrants, and native israelis: A historical prospective study.

IF 3.5 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-08-21 DOI:10.1007/s00127-025-02979-0

Shikma Keller, Bella Savitsky, Orly Manor, Uriel Heresco-Levy, Pesach Lichtenberg

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Abstract

Introduction: Holocaust survivors were exposed to extreme trauma. More than half a million survivors immigrated to Israel over the years, as well as immigrants who didn't suffer the atrocities of the holocaust. Trauma and immigration are both risk factors for mental disorders.

Aim: To describe differences in hospitalization characteristics and to determine whether there are differences in illness severity between mentally ill Holocaust Survivor Immigrants (HSI), non-Holocaust immigrants (NHI), and Native Israelis (NI).

Methods: An unidentified list of hospitalized psychiatric patients was extracted from the Israel psychiatric case registry according to the following criteria: Jewish patients who were born in Europe or Israel before 1944 and were admitted to a psychiatric ward between 1945 and 2010. 30,539 records were divided into three groups: Holocaust Survivor Immigrants, Native Israelis, and Non-Holocaust Immigrants.

Results: The number of first hospitalizations after age 70 is significantly higher at the HSI and NHI compared to NI. A significantly higher rate of suicide attempts was observed among HSI (13.8%), compared with the NI (11.8%) and NHI (9.7%). The odds for severe mental illness were significantly higher among HSI and NHI compared to NI by 84% and 66% among patients with psychotic disorders, twofold higher, and higher by 37% among patients with affective disorders, and threefold and 2.5 times higher among patients with anxiety.

Conclusions: Exposure to the Holocaust trauma has an effect on patterns of psychiatric hospitalizations and the severity of Holocaust survivors' psychiatric illness. Immigration is an independent risk factor for severe mental illness, although its influence was less pronounced than direct Holocaust exposure. Exposure to severe trauma such as war during childhood has long-term effects on the course and severity of mental illnesses.

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大屠杀幸存者移民、非大屠杀移民和以色列本地人的精神疾病严重程度和特征：一项历史前瞻性研究

引言：大屠杀幸存者遭受了极大的创伤。多年来，超过50万幸存者移民到以色列，还有那些没有遭受大屠杀暴行的移民。创伤和移民都是精神障碍的危险因素。目的：描述精神疾病大屠杀幸存者移民（HSI）、非大屠杀移民（NHI）和以色列原住民（NI）之间住院特征的差异，并确定疾病严重程度是否存在差异。方法：根据以下标准从以色列精神病病例登记处提取一份身份不明的住院精神病患者名单：1944年之前出生在欧洲或以色列，1945年至2010年期间入住精神科病房的犹太患者。30,539条记录分为三组：大屠杀幸存者移民、以色列原住民和非大屠杀移民。结果：70岁后首次住院的人数在HSI和NHI中明显高于NI。与NI（11.8%）和NHI（9.7%）相比，HSI（13.8%）的自杀企图率明显更高。在精神障碍患者中，HSI和NHI患严重精神疾病的几率比NI高84%和66%，在情感障碍患者中高两倍，在情感障碍患者中高37%，在焦虑患者中高3倍和2.5倍。结论：暴露于大屠杀创伤对精神病住院模式和大屠杀幸存者精神疾病的严重程度有影响。移民是严重精神疾病的一个独立风险因素，尽管其影响不如直接接触大屠杀那么明显。童年时期遭受战争等严重创伤对精神疾病的病程和严重程度有长期影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

2.30%

发文量

184

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic. In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation. Both original work and review articles may be submitted.