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Six returning Vietnamese veterans had been in captivity for at least five years before their return. The families had been seen by the authors for one year prior
to the return of the subjects in the study. The subjects showed social, work, emotional, and family difficulties, each area following its own course of onset, impact, and resolution. It appears that cognitive difficulties were most pronounced during the first three months after return, but were resolved without specific treatment and were easily dealt with by the families. Social problems were most pronounced from the third to the sixth months and caused considerable difficulty for the wives. These particular problems had to be resolved before family roles were restructured. From the third to the ninth month, self-imposed and overdetermined standards of work were stressed for the men. They were socially uncomfortable in nonprisoner-of-war, nonmilitary social groups. Emotional factors, including mood shifts, paranoid ideation, hoarding behavior, depression, fatigue, guilt, and phobic behavior, predominated from the third month through the end of the first year and were resolved after that gradually. Family difficulties tended to be resolved during the second year after return. Reparative work in social functioning could not begin until cognitive clearing had taken place. Significantly at the end of two years, the authors saw no evidence of a concentration camp syndrome nor any major psychiatric illness. They make comprehensive suggestions for programs involving any future re-entry.