Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the work place .

‘Nonsense. There's nothing wrong with me !'

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the second most common mental illness in Australia after depression. A survey of 14,000 military personnel found that for some Australians exposed repeatedly to combat and trauma, that problems were increasing five to fifteenfold. Twenty per cent of Peacekeepers who went to Somalia reported traumatic stress symptoms fifteen months after their return. Our role as members of Defence Reserves Support is to liaise on behalf of Defence in the marketplace with employers both corporate and small. They need to be informed of the condition, and how it impinges in the workplace. We are the ideal conduit for such information. There is excellent material available now for partners and families but very little for employers. we should ensure that information is available to them too.

The disorder is not confined to defence personnel. Civilians can suffer equally from natural disasters, witnessing or being involved in horrific accidents, family tragedies or bank or convenience store hold-ups. The trekkers who were attacked recently in PNG are an example. It is important that early symptoms such as irrational irritability, mood swings, and just plain orneryness are noticed BEFORE coping mechanisms such as absenteeism and alcohol trip in and become established and entrenched and escalate into a mega problem for management, colleagues and the family. Another adjustment that has to be made is the time warp. A returnee could have been in a war zone or area of risk in the morning and within 24 hours be back in suburban Australia where the banality of the footy scores or the new supermarket being built down the road, are all that people can talk about.

The symptoms can vary widely:

• Always having to have an escape route from a room, or situation.

• Needing a rigid timeframe and closure for any group activities/meetings.

• An intolerance of waffle.

• Unpredictable irritability, mood swings.

• Unreliability, forgetfulness.

• The first signs to a manager or superior could be complaints from colleagues (‘He/she is off his trolley! Becoming impossible to work with. Why don't you DO something…'

The disorder can take years to emerge. One Vietnam veteran in our family, forty years on was teaching at a University when one of his students suicided. About ten days later he was feeling terrible. Fortunately he had read up on PTSD and suddenly was reminded of the symptoms and said to himself ‘Whoa! That's PTSD I've got, and hang on, I've missed out on ‘self-blame – and could I have done more?' Such recognition normalised the feelings for him and he realised he wasn't going crazy, and recovered rapidly.

Another Vietnam veteran we know, even now, can have a panic attack if confined in a crowded train carriage. So much so he will have to get out at the next station and walk into the city, regardless of the time or distance that incurs.

PTSD and the work place