Post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression among frontline healthcare staff working during the COVID-19 pandemic

CONCLUSION: These findings indicate the propensity of health care staff to experience a range of occupational and personal trauma associated with PTSD and the need to assess index trauma when diagnosing psychopathology in order to best understand the needs of this workforce.PRACTITIONER POINTS: We found high diagnostic rates of PTSD (44%) and major depression (39%) among frontline healthcare staff working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although major depression developed during the pandemic, PTSD was more likely to be pre-existing. When assessing pandemic-related psychopathology, it is important to assess the onset and index event related to symptoms. Healthcare workers appear to have high rates of PTSD related to occupational and personal trauma, which warrants specific focus in service planning.PMID:34713436 | DOI:10.1111/bjc.12340
Source: The British Journal of Clinical Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Source Type: research