Post traumatic stress disorder can occur after a distressing or catastrophic event. This event may involve threatened death/serious injury, or witnessing of such an event. Post traumatic stress disorder can persist for years following the initial event. The best strategies for assisting and providing support for an individual who has experienced a traumatic event include:
- validate the individual's stress reactions as being normal responses to abnormal events
- encourage traumatised individuals to talk with family, friends and supportive work colleagues
- don't tell the individual to stop reliving the trauma, and to get on with life
- encourage the individual to see professional help, if not yet sought.
Symptoms and characteristics
A major symptom of post traumatic stress disorder is re-experiencing the trauma. This may be in the form of recurrent dreams of the event, flashbacks, intrusive memories or uneasiness in situations that bring back memories of the original trauma. The disorder causes avoidance behaviour. this can include persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the event; emotional numbing, which may continue for months or years; or reduced interest in other people and the outside world.
Workplace adjustments and solutions
There are adjustments and solutions for the following job requirements
References
Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Mental Health Council Inc. and Betty Ann Kitchener and Anthony Francis Jorm at ORYGEN Research Centre, University of Melbourne 2006, Mental Health First Aid in the Workplace – an e-learning course, Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Canberra.