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“War neurosis” and associated physical conditions: an exploratory statistical analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Ian P Burges Watson ,
George V Wilson  and
Helen Hornsby
Ian P Burges Watson*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Tasmaniaand Visiting Specialist, Repatriation General Hospital, Hobart
George V Wilson
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychology, University of Tasmania
Helen Hornsby
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychology, University of Tasmania
*
*14 Willowbend Road, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia7050
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Abstract

Records of the war service disability claims for Australian Vietnam veterans in Tasmania (n = 751) were analysed to establish patterns of interrelationships between categories of disability. The predicted relationship between psychiatric disability and stress related skin disabilities was strongly supported and relationships between psychiatric and other medical disabilities were found. An exploratory principal components analysis produced three independent components which accounted for 21.2 percent of total variance. Component 1 was interpreted as a general military service component and components 2 and 3 were labelled as stress components. The most likely interpretation of the two stress components was that they reflect differences in profiles of records for disability claims depending on the time when the disability presented. The relevance of the findings is discussed.

Keywords

Stress DisordersPost-traumaticVeteran Disability ClaimsPsychosomatic MedicineComorbidityMultivariate Analysis
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 1992 , pp. 30 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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