Effects of a Vietnam War Memorial pilgrimage on veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

• Published in: The journal of nervous and mental disease Vol. 183; no. 5; p. 315
• Main Authors: Watson, C G, Tuorila, J, Detra, E, Gearhart, L P, Wielkiewicz, R M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-05-1995
• Subjects: Adult; Desensitization, Psychologic; Follow-Up Studies; Holidays; Humans; Implosive Therapy; Life Change Events; Male; Personality Inventory; Severity of Illness Index; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy; Travel; Veterans; Vietnam; Vietnam
• ISSN: 0022-3018
• DOI: 10.1097/00005053-199505000-00007

We compared the scores of Vietnam veterans in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder on the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder just before, just after, and 6 months after they participated in a pilgrimage to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. Significant short-term improvement was reported on Mississippi total scores and on 10 of its 35 items. The number of items showing significant improvement between the initial assessment and the 6-month follow-up did not exceed chance, but significant variance increases appeared on 8 of 35 items. This suggests that the pilgrimage led to a) short-term improvements on several posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and b) long-term improvements for some participants, but equally large exacerbations for others on a subset of symptoms.