Occupational health professionals and 2018 NICE post-traumatic stress disorder guidelines

Many organizations routinely require their staff to deal with traumatic situations which may increase their risk of experiencing mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Such work may increase the risk of employees developing PTSD and other trauma-related mental health problems. Although around 4.5% of the general UK population experience PTSD at any point in time, increased rates have been found in both directly trauma-exposed populations such as military veterans recently deployed in combat roles (up to 17%) [1], ambulance personnel (15 –23%) [2] and those indirectly exposed such as social workers (15%) [3]. Characteristic symptoms of PTSD include intrusive thoughts, nightmares, persistent perceptions of heightened current threat such as hypervigilance or an enhanced startle reaction, feeling alienated from others and distorted self-perception including blame and shame. From an occupational perspective, it is important to note that key PTSD diagnostic criteria are avoidance of activities or thoughts related to the trauma and demonstrable functional impairment when significant-related distress may not be obvious to others. The diagnosis can be made after 1 month of symptoms following the precipitating incident(s) although in many cases there is a considerable delay between the traumatic event and diagnosis. Evidence suggests that patients with PTSD often only present for help after a crisis has happened or a significant other has issued an ult...
Source: Occupational Medicine - Category: Respiratory Medicine Source Type: research