Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder following recovery of war dead

Persons who handled human remains in Operation Desert Storm (N=116) were compared with those who did not handle remains (N= 118) on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Subjects who handled remains reported more intrusive and avoidant symptoms than other subjects. Subjects who were inexperienced at handling remains had more symptoms than those who were experienced. Within the experienced group, there was a significant correlation between the number of remains handled and level of symptoms reported.