Posttraumatic stress disorder: a thirty-year delay in a World War II veteran

Some clinicians doubt the validity of a diagnosis of delayed posttraumatic stress disorder for Vietnam veterans. Precombat psychopathology, drug abuse, factitious symptoms, and malingering in pursuit of disability compensation are cited as alternative explanations for the syndrome. The authors discuss the case of a much decorated World War II veteran whose symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder first occurred more than 30 years after combat. They consider the alternative explanations for his symptoms to be inadequate.