Letter to the Editor

Post Abortion Survivor Syndrome (PASS): Signs and Symptoms

Authors: Philip Ney, MD, FRCP, MA, RPsych, Claudia Sheils, Marek Gajowy, MA

Abstract

Observations of psychiatric patients led me to believe that some were deeply affected by pregnancy losses, particularly abortion; both theirs and their parents'. It appeared that there were deep existential conflicts, experienced by survivors that result in many psychiatric symptoms and psychophysiologic illnesses when they were spared, but those who were near and dear to them were killed or died for reasons over which they had no control. One might think that people who survive should be glad to be alive and greet every dawn with gladness; instead, studies have shown many survivors of torture, concentration camps, disaster accidents and illness have a pervasive sense of guilt, morbid thoughts, suicidal ideation, and difficulty grappling with the exigencies of life. What was first known as a “concentration camp syndrome”1 later became the “survivor syndrome.”2 These and other symptoms not only affected the survivor but also their children.3

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References

1. Chodoff P. Late effects of the concentration camp syndrome. Arch Gen Psych 1963;8:323–333.
 
2. Niederland WG. Clinical observations on the “survivor syndrome”. Int J Psychoanal 1968;49:313–315.
 
3. Krell R. Holocaust families: the survivors and their children. Compr Psychiatry 1979;20: 560–568.
 
4. Ney PG. A consideration of abortion survivors. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 1983;13:168–179.
 
5. Ney PG, Fung T, Wickett AR, et al. The effects of pregnancy loss on women's health. Soc Sci Med1994;38:1193–1200.