Zahava Solomon

Tel Aviv University | TAU · School of Social Work

Background: Traumatic stress among forcibly displaced people has a variety of adverse consequences beyond individual mental health, including implications for poor socioemotional developmental outcomes for their children post-displacement. Objective: This study explored the intergenerational transmission of maternal ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Str...

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in heightened feelings of loneliness due to lockouts and social restrictions. In the present study, we examined the association of loneliness during the pandemic with anxiety and depression, while exploring the moderating role of the tendency to use two emotion-regulation strategies (expressive suppression, cognitive...

Introduction Theoretical perspectives emphasize that trauma and complex/posttraumatic stress disorder (C/PTSD) may interrupt with the perception of normal day-to-day bodily sensations, such as hunger, temperature and pain. Yet, a coherent conceptual synthesis of such processes is still lacking. Objectives This presentation portrayes two studies th...

Background Among war veterans, research has indicated high rates of depression, anxiety, and comorbidity of these disorders, with even higher rates among prisoners-of-war. However, little is known about the longitudinal effects of comorbidity profiles on cognitive performance, particularly in the case of aging war veterans. Method This longitudina...

The current longitudinal study focused on predicting depression among spouses of former Israeli war veterans (combat veterans or ex-prisoners of war [ex-POWs]). The research examined the direct and moderating role of secondary trauma related to their husbands’ war-related experiences, stress related to being exposed to intimate partner violence in...

Objective: This study prospectively assesses the implication of (a) exposure to distant trauma of war captivity, (b) stressful life events across the life span, and (c) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) trajectories and current PTSD, on substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: One hundred and twenty Israeli ex-prisoners of war (ex-...

Subjective age, the personal sense of how old one feels, is an important concomitant of posttraumatic outcomes in the second half of life. The present study aims to disentangle the interrelationships between posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSS) and subjective age, during the COVID-19 pandemic, among a sample of Israeli older adults who are...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents a global public health concern, affecting about 1 in 20 individuals. The symptoms of PTSD include intrusiveness (involuntary nightmares or flashbacks), avoidance of traumatic memories, negative alterations in cognition and mood (such as negative beliefs about oneself or social detachment), increased...

Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be triggered by life-threatening medical emergencies, such as stroke. Data suggest that up to 25% of stroke survivors will develop PTSD symptomatology, but little is known about predisposing factors. We sought to examine whether neuroimaging measures and coping styles are related to PTSD symptoms...

Clinical Impact Statement Following participation in war, more than a quarter of veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress symptoms, such as intrusive dreams, high anxiety, and anger outbursts. These symptoms often also affect their spouses. The current longitudinal study examined the trajectories of spouses’ distress, veterans’ PTSS, and wives’ as...

Given the devastation caused by disasters and mass violence, it is critical that intervention policy be based on the most updated research findings. However, to date, no evidence-based consensus has been reached supporting a clear set of recommendations for intervention during the immediate and the mid-term post mass trauma phases. Because it is un...

The goal of the present study was to assess the trauma-induced experience of subjective aging for trauma survivors and their spouses in relation to the bidirectional effects of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attachment insecurities. One hundred and seventy Israeli combat veterans from the 1973 Yom Kippur War and their wives reported their...

Rationale It has been recognized that exposure to mass trauma tends to increase the time spent watching television (TV) news. Yet, research on the effects of this tendency on individuals’ well-being yielded inconclusive findings. Objective The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine the effects of prior trauma and posttraumatic stress disorde...

This chapter reviews some of the findings of a multi-cohort longitudinal study spanning over three decades, focusing on the secondary post-traumatic stress symptoms among adult offspring of Israeli former prisoners of war (POWs) whose fathers were captured by the Egyptians and Syrians during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The effects of captivity on the...

This study assessed the contributions of prior war captivity trauma, the appraisal of the current COVID-19 danger and its resemblance to the prior trauma, and long-term trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to risk for PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Capitalizing on a 29-year longitudinal study with four previous assessments, two...

Objectives Depression is a prevalent outcome of traumatic experiences, such as combat and war captivity. This study explores the heterogeneity of changes over time and assesses the contribution of trauma exposure (combat vs. war captivity), hardiness, and social support for depression trajectories. Methods Two groups of Israeli veterans were asses...

Background : In the aftermath of trauma not only the primary traumatized survivors’ mental health is affected but often also their significant others. The current study explores the specific associations of ICD symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disturbances in self organization (DSO) for secondary traumatic stress and dyadic adju...

Objectives: Trauma has long-term effects on those directly exposed to it, but it also impacts those closest to them, particularly one's spouse, as the marital relationship is of central importance for late-life development. Furthermore, traumatic experiences have been shown to be involved in an acceleration of aging, whether through physical healt...

Background The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to previous traumatic events is a risk factor for stress reactions during this pandemic. Capitalizing on a 29-year longitudinal study of Israeli ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs) and combat veterans, we examined whether captivity is a risk factor for fear of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVI...

Ever since the publication of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there has been a controversy around whether the inclusion of indirect exposure as a potential traumatic event for the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is justified. The aim of the current study was to examine the va...

Objective: War-related trauma may indirectly affect veterans’ spouses both in terms of secondary posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and negative perceived health. The present study aimed to examine trajectories of secondary PTSS over a twelve-year period and its association with various measures of subjectively perceived health, among spouses of...

For combat veterans, the trauma of war can have lasting effects, that may later extend to attitudes toward one's own aging (ATOA). The present study sought to examine whether attachment insecurities may help to predict ATOA in later life, while also exploring the moderating role of combat exposure concerning the effects of attachment insecurities o...

Background: War captivity is one of the most severe human-made traumatic events which lead to self-amplifying cycle of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and attachment insecurities. Solid evidence in the literature pointed out on the intergenerational transmission of PTSD symptoms. However, no research has been conducted on the interge...

Objectives Some degree of mental distress is commonly present in old age, and it is often exacerbated in later life following changes in physical health. This work presents in two studies among samples that have been exposed to stressful experiences in the past, a prospective examination of how the association between physical health and mental dis...

World assumptions (WAs) are cognitive schemas concerning an individual's views of themselves, the world, and others. Although it is well established that WAs are negatively distorted by trauma exposure and strongly associated with posttraumatic psychopathology, the potential impact of WAs on close interpersonal relationships remains largely uninves...

In 1948, the state of Israel was created as a homeland for the Jewish people after 2,000 years of persecution and deportations in the diaspora. During the past 72 years, its inhabitants have experienced several wars and numerous terrorist attacks. Therefore, the issue of trauma goes beyond academic study, it is part of daily life. These circumstanc...

Background: War captivity and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are known to be associated with several poor health outcomes of an accelerated aging process. However, the contribution of personality protective factors to this phenomenon are rarely studied. The present 24-year prospective study examined associations between psychological hardine...

Objective: Research has demonstrated that traumatic experiences have significant links to suicidal ideation (SI), particularly among older adults. The present study examined SI among older adults with a history of war trauma and the role of perceptions relating to one's age (subjective age) in predicting SI. Method: Drawing from a larger longitu...

This study explored trajectories of marital adjustment, including overall, affection, satisfaction, cohesion and consensus, in 197 middle-aged Israeli spouses who had been married for an average of 34 years. As military conscription in Israel is mandatory, all men in this study are military veterans. The main aims of the study were to explore the t...

Trauma survivors who suffer from posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are known to experience impairments in sexual satisfaction. However, the negative effects of PTSS are not limited to the primary survivors, as they can lead to secondary PTSS in their spouses as well. The implications of secondary PTSS in the sexuality of couples remain unknown....

Purpose Among the most prevalent and adverse sequalae of traumatic experiences are negative world assumptions (WAs), which describe trauma-related negative cognitions regarding the self, the world, and others. Even though a wealth of studies has shown intrapersonal associations between negative WAs and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), there ha...

Rationale: Aging veterans often suffer from increased vulnerability, manifested among other things in old subjective age and poor perceived health. Though research has documented the contribution of trauma related variables to these negative appraisals, their associations with impostorism (i.e., the subjective experience that one is less adequate...

Objective: War captivity entails severe post-traumatic implications for ex-POWs and their partners. This study examines the role of self-differentiation in secondary traumatization and dyadic adjustment among ex-POWs’ spouses. Methods: 106 spouses of Israeli ex-POWs and 56 matched spouses of ex-combatants completed self-report questionnaires asses...

This article examines of the aftermath of war captivity as implicated in the next (second) generation. Capitalizing on findings from a nearly four-decade and four-wave longitudinal study, we present cumulative evidence regarding the psychological and interpersonal ramifications of war captivity for former Israeli prisoners of war (ex-POWs), and und...

Growing numbers of trauma survivors have chosen to cope with their ongoing invisible wounds through tattooing their bodies. This phenomenon includes individuals as well as organized and documented projects held in public spaces. The topic of body modification through tattoos has benefited from an explosion in academic interest; however, there has b...

Despite increasing interest in the mental health of aging veterans, the pathogenic and salutogenic ramifications of war have not been investigated among aging veterans who received decorations of valor. Filling this gap, 73 Israeli decorated veterans (DVs) and 73 non-decorated veterans (n-DVs) (Mage = 68.5) were assessed for posttraumatic stress sy...

Objective: Individuals exposed to trauma, especially those who develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are at a higher risk of suffering from chronic pain as well as altered pain perception and modulation. However, the underlying mechanisms of these processes are yet to be established. Recent findings have indicated that trauma survivors ten...

Avoidant attachment is associated with numerous negative interpersonal outcomes. The current study tested whether self-perceptions of impostorism intensify negative interpersonal outcomes of attachment-related avoidance. One hundred and twenty-nine male Israeli veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War were assessed using self-report measures of attachme...

Trauma survivors may suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), elevated posttraumatic guilt (PG), and alterations in the pain system. However, the association between PG and alterations in pain perception and modulation among trauma survivors has not been established, nor has the possible underlying role of PG. This longitudinal study inves...

This chapter is devoted to an examination of the aftermath of war captivity as implicated in the next (second) generation. Capitalizing on findings from a nearly three-decade and four-wave longitudinal study, we present cumulative evidence regarding the psychological and interpersonal ramifications of war captivity for Israeli former prisoners of w...

Objectives: Sleep is necessary for brain function as well as physical and cognitive processes. Sleep disruptions, common with aging, intensify among trauma survivors. Moreover, former prisoners-of-war (ex-POWs) often experience premature aging. This study investigates the longitudinal effects of sleep disruptions for ex-POWs in relation to cogniti...

Introduction: We examined whether attachment orientations moderated the self-amplifying cycle of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and negative cognitions, decades after the trauma ended. Method: We sampled Israeli veterans from the 1973 Yom Kippur War and assessed PTSD severity and cognitions about the self and the world, twice—35 (T1) and 42 (...

Rationale: Poor subjective physical health and loneliness are among the most detrimental ramifications of trauma. Indeed, substantial research has examined the link between subjective physical health and loneliness, mainly focusing on how loneliness leads to poorer physical health. However, the effects of poor subjective physical health on lonelin...

Background: The World Health Organization(WHO) International Classification of Diseases, 11th version (ICD-11), has proposed a new trauma-related diagnosis of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), separate and distinct from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, to date, no study has examined CPTSD over time. Objectives: This prosp...

Objective: This study aimed to examine the role of combat stress reaction (CSR) in predicting all-cause mortality over a 33-year period following the end of the war. Method: Two groups of male veterans from the 1982 Lebanon War participated in this study in 1983 (T1) and 2016 (T2): the CSR group (n = 375) and a matched comparison group (n = 305)...

Objectives: The aging process may be affected by negative life events as well as social factors. Though psychological aspects of the aging process in veterans have been the focus of considerable research, decorated veterans have been scarcely investigated in this domain. The current study sought to assess psychiatric distress (PD) levels among agin...

Objectives: The aging process may be affected by negative life events as well as social factors. Though psychological aspects of the aging process in veterans have been the focus of considerable research, decorated veterans have been scarcely investigated in this domain. The current study sought to assess psychiatric distress (PD) levels among agin...

Spouses of former prisoners-of-war (ex-POWs) are at risk for Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) and marital distress. This longitudinal study assessed the implications of PTSS and self-differentiation in sexual satisfaction among 90 ex-POWs' spouses and 75 matched combatants' spouses of the 1973 Yom-Kippur War. Standardized questionnaires were us...

Background: Subjective age (SA) is an indicator of aging that has been empirically associated with health impediments and hindered longevity. Studies show that adverse life events may result in relatively older SA, but have not addressed the differential contribution of life events across the lifespan and the course of posttraumatic psychopathology...

Objective: Ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWs) experience prolonged distress that in some cases may influence their cellular aging (telomere length). The current research examines whether attachment orientations of ex-POWs and their spouses can explain individual differences in telomere length 40 years after the experience of captivity. Methods: Eighty-e...

The present study investigates whether secondary traumatization (i.e., family history of Holocaust survival and secondary exposure to captivity) is implicated in subjective age. Women exposed to different levels of secondary traumatization (N = 177) were assessed. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed that a Holocaust background and husband's capt...

Objective: Previous findings have demonstrated that torture survivors exhibit chronic pain and alterations in pain perception. However, not much is known regarding the characteristics of the torture experience and its contribution to these long-term ramifications. The current study examined the unique role of objective severity and subjective suff...

Objective: Ill-health and early mortality are amongst the most significant ramifications of trauma. Furthermore, trauma alters the subjective perception and experience of the body. The aim of this study is to examine the extent to which deteriorations in perceived health among traumatised individuals are associated with cellular health as manifest...

This study conducted a latent profile analysis on quantitative data gathered from 156 married couples, so to learn more about the role of attachment and gender in marital adjustment. This study explored Finzi-Dottan, Cohen, and Tyano’s (2004) theoretical model, which focuses on how the attachment of each partner contributes to the relationship’s dy...

Living with veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with elevated distress in spouses. Moreover, military spouses are at an elevated risk for domestic abuse, which might exacerbate their plight. Forgiveness is posited to have a healing effect for individuals, both in general as well as in the context of marital...

Objectives: Telomere length (TL) is a robust indicator of cellular aging. TL erosion has been associated with exposure to social and traumatic stressors. Loneliness and perceived social support are strongly linked to increased morbidity and mortality, but have yet to be investigated in relation to TL after extreme stress. The present study examine...

Posttraumatic growth (PTG), the positive psychological transformations that follow traumatic events, affects both direct survivors (primary PTG) and their significant others (secondary PTG). Though primary and secondary PTG have been widely investigated in the literature, their long-term trajectories decades after a traumatic event, especially as s...

Background: The decision to adopt forced medication in psychiatric care is particularly relevant from a clinical and ethical viewpoint. The European Commission has funded the EUNOMIA study in order to develop European recommendations for good clinical practice on coercive measures, including forced medication. Methods: The recommendations on for...

Objective: Long-term trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may fluctuate over time and typically conform to four heterogeneous patterns: resilience, recovery, delayed-onset, and chronic symptomatology. However, such fluctuations are typically short ranged and have rarely been investigated over the course of decades after the trauma....

The aftermath of war-related trauma may entail psychological devastation and is typically accompanied by various deleterious phenomena. These include, but are not limited to, high rates of loneliness. However, trauma may also result in positive outcomes such as personal, spiritual, and relational prosperity, which are typically considered under the...

Previous studies suggest that attachment insecurities may increase after trauma exposure, an effect documented only at a group level. This study explores the heterogeneity of changes over time and examines the associations of the nature of the traumatic event (inter-personal and nonpersonal), and its consequences (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTS...

Background: Telomere length (TL) serves as a biomarker of cellular senescence and is a ‎robust predictor of mortality. The association between traumatic stress and TL erosion is ‎rapidly realized, as are the complexities of this relation that include links to posttraumatic ‎stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and psychosocial factors. Nevertheless,...

Objective: War captivity is a potent pathogen for various aspects of mental health, including cognitive impairments. However, little is known about the long-term impact of war captivity and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on cognitive functioning among former prisoners of war (ex-POWs). This study assesses the effect of captivity, PTSD trajec...

Following war and war captivity, many combat veterans and former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) may suffer from posttraumatic psychopathologies, and these may be transmitted to their offspring. Though there are considerable individual differences between offspring in this respect, the mechanisms underlying such differences remain unclear. The current l...

Spouses of traumatized war veterans might suffer from distress following indirect exposure to combat and direct exposure to domestic abuse. Yet the effect of this twofold trauma exposure is far from being fully understood. Theory views attachment security as a personal resource mitigating adversity, whereas attachment insecurities intensify distres...

Objectives: Exposure to captivity increases the risk for multiple disturbances that may intensify during old age. In later phases of life, former-prisoners-of-war (ex-POWs) may suffer from depression as well as from accelerated aging, manifested in older subjective age and leukocyte telomere shortening. The current study assesses the link between...

Loneliness has always been a problem for soldiers and veterans, and yet it has rarely been systematically investigated in this context. The current chapter draws on a three-decade longitudinal study of Israeli veterans and a set of qualitative investigations to delineate the trajectory and characteristics of the veteran's loneliness. Particularly,...

Orientation to bodily signals is defined as the way somatic sensations are attended, perceived and interpreted. Research suggests that trauma exposure, particularly the pathological reaction to trauma (i.e., PTSD), is associated with catastrophic and frightful orientation to bodily signals. However, little is known regarding the long-term ramificat...

Although highly researched among veterans, the underlying mechanisms of suicidal ideation (SI) among former prisoners of war (ex-POWs), especially in the long-term, have rarely been investigated. Furthermore, while posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and loneliness have been individually associated with veteran SI, and both may be differentially i...

Exposure to ongoing violence is a worldwide predicament and may generate different adaptations than those evident in cases of past trauma. Nevertheless, such continuous traumatic stress (CTS) has only recently begun to attract scientific attention. The present longitudinal study assessed Israeli populations exposed to high and medium intensities of...

Research indicates that posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) induced by war trauma may be transmitted to veterans’ wives and offspring. Nevertheless, the interplay between family members has not been accounted for in such processes. Taking a family systems perspective (Minuchin, 1974), this presentation will focus on the role that wives’/mothers’ s...

Objective: This study sheds light on the importance of long-term follow-up of trauma survivors, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) trajectories, and early detection of health risk factors in trauma survivors. The present study prospectively assessed the following over 23 years: (1) the association of psychological and physiologic stress during c...

Countless people around the world live with exposure to continuous traumatic stress (CTS) as a result of violent political conflict. Over the past 15 years, residents of southern Israel have been exposed to rocket fire from Gaza with varying intensity, and their mental health has been the subject of many studies. The purpose of this article was to...

Research indicates that posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) induced by war trauma may be transmitted to veterans’ wives and offspring (secondary traumatic stress; STS). However, the interplay between family members’ characteristics has not been accounted for in such processes. Taking a family systems perspective, we examine the contributions of fa...

Objectives: The lifetime risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTSD symptoms (PTSS) among primary and secondary female victims is known to be higher than for male. This study assessed gender differences in PTSS among former prisoners of war’s (ex-POWs) adult offspring and the associations with their fathers’ and mothers’ PTSS and the pa...

Repercussions of war captivity may transmit to spouses of former prisoners of war (POW) via posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Overidentification with their partners underlies the PTSS experienced by former wives of POWs, thus implying impaired self-differentiation. Although wives' indirect exposure to their husbands' captivity and subsequent PT...

Research suggests that trauma experienced at an earlier stage of life may be implicated in premature or accelerated aging in later stages. Premature aging, in this respect, evinces in various domains, particularly in health impediments and mortality. The current study prospectively assessed the long term impact of war and war captivity on mortality...

Many individuals worldwide are exposed to continuous traumatic stress (CTS). However, the psychiatric sequela of CTS and the relevance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criteria in this situation have yet to be determined. Filling this gap, the present study assessed psychiatric reactions to CTS and the relationship between such re...

The controversy regarding the nature of posttraumatic growth includes two main competing claims: one which argues that posttraumatic growth reflects authentic positive changes and the other which argues that posttraumatic growth reflects illusory defenses. While the former might suggest that posttraumatic growth enhances intimacy and close relation...

Objective Little is known about trajectories of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) and the predictors of those trajectories. This study aimed to assess long-term PTSS trajectories among ex-POWs and comparable veterans and the role of hardiness and sensation seeking in predicting PTSS trajectory. Method A s...

Objective: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are implicated in high suicidality and low levels of marital quality among traumatized veterans and their wives. However, the role of marital quality in suicidal ideation (SI) of war veterans and their spouses remains relatively unexplored. The current study examined the longitudinal associations betw...

Objective: War trauma may foster ramifications for marital relationships. Veterans may feel that no one can understand them and thus impact their relationships. The current study aims to shed light on the role that posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), loneliness, and attachment orientations may play in marital adjustment among combat veterans. M...