CTP Trauma
& Chronic Pain.
Something about the physical, mental and emotional impact of being involved in a car accident
The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among CTP & Pain stats. is more than twice that in the general population, yet diagnosis is often delayed. GPs can ensure patients with PTSD receive best-practice clinical care by being aware of how they can present, knowing how to enquire about symptoms among those who have been exposed to trauma and following new expert guidelines.
Key Points
Use stats/info from webinar
An emergency worker with PTSD may present with typical symptoms or other related problems, such as anger, relationship problems, sleep difficulty, substance abuse or a more general mental health crisis.
Repeated nonspecific presentations by current or former emergency service workers should raise suspicion of PTSD and prompt questions about trauma exposure.
Use of appropriate screening tools can increase the likelihood of PTSD being recognised.
It is often beneficial to obtain a second opinion from a mental health professional who has experience in managing emergency service workers or military personnel.
Gold-standard treatment is one of the trauma-focused psychological treatments such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy or eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing.
Australian guidelines outline circumstances in which medication should be considered as a treatment option for an emergency service worker with PTSD.
Awareness of the increased risk of suicide associated with PTSD, especially among emergency service workers, is crucial.