[A few remarks on the so-called war pension].

The legislator has provided for a possibility of granting war disability pensions to some persons listed in appropriate legal acts. In the area of psychiatry, the most frequently indicated disorder is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder--formerly KZ-syndrome) manifesting in the form of neurasthenic-depressive-anxiety disturbances. The latest literature on the subject mentions the problem of simulation and meta-simulation of PTSD symptoms and claims that "... recognition of PTSD as the basis for indemnity ends can take place no sooner that PTSD symptoms have become stable and no sooner than after one year of treatment--with adequate psychological and pharmacological therapy". Expert practice, however, reveals that applications for war disability pensions with a diagnosis of PTSD mentioned in the application form--are filed by persons who have never been subject to psychiatric treatment before. It often happens that an expert draws up a disability pension form based on one psychiatric consultation. It seems fully justified to state that after half a century, which has passed since the end of the war and occupation, it is impossible to verify the causal nexus between the disorders suffered by the living combatants and the psycho-physiological injuries inflicted upon them many decades ago. Another thesis, suggesting that it would be justified to grant war disability pensions in all such cases, seems to be of discrete character and therefore appears incompatible with the nature of opinioning.