War veterans called it “shell-shock” and “battle fatigue” when they returned home and couldn’t cope with everyday life. In South Africa we call it “being one of the statistics” of violent, life-threatening crime, car high jacking, rape and murder.
The experts call it post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and warn that if left untreated it may well have a very negative impact on both home and workplace.
Where did it start?
Both World Wars left survivors and returning soldiers extremely traumatised but the disorder was never officially recognised until after the Vietnam War. Thousands of American soldiers returned home traumatised by what they had seen and endured but found that people back home were not interested in listening to them and helping them. They eventually took matters into their own hands and, with the help of a few sympathetic psychologists, formed their own “rap-groups” where they could share their experiences, worries and fears with others. Today this “rap-group” or group and self-therapy method is widely used to help PTSD suffers.
Symptoms
It is normal for people who have experienced a traumatic incidence to have strong emotional reactions even though they show no outwardly, visible signs of injury.
PTSD symptoms are labelled as:
- Intrusive, when the traumatic event intrudes into everyday and working life, making it impossible to cope
- Hyperarousal, when the sufferers are so aroused that they feel as if they are experiencing the trauma all over again. For example, a car backfiring may sound like a gun being fired and they may instinctively dive for cover
- Avoidance or restriction, when the person feels emotionally numb and avoids close emotional ties with family, friends and colleagues or anything that reminds him or her of the traumatic event.
General symptoms may include the following:
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- Nightmares, flashbacks and hallucinations or sleeplessness
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- Being constantly stressed out and on alert for something bad to happen
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- Problems concentrating or remembering current information and loss of confidence
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- Severe rage often taken out on colleagues and family members
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- Severe survival guilt and shame, and feelings of helplessness
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- Feeling emotionally numb and retreating into themselves
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- Manic, risky, sometimes death-defying behaviour
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- Deep distrust of colleagues, employers and authority figures.
PTSD in the workplace
It stands to reason that the abovementioned behaviour may disrupt workflow, productivity and the general mood in the workplace. Although not everyone who has experienced trauma will develop PTSD symptoms, those that do will need urgent attention and patient empathy. Please encourage them to seek counselling as this disorder will not go away by itself and may cause them to lose their jobs and even a marriage partner and friends. Also, people with PTSD need to re-establish a sense of safety and control; they need routine and an emotionally and physically safe environment in which to work. If you can help provide this it will help their recovery immensely.
Contact the EAP for more information and support.
Sources
Conroy, DL. Why is it so hard for us to recover from being suicidal? Retrieved from: http://wwwmetanoia.org
Managing traumatic stress: tips for recovering from disasters and other traumatic events. Retrieved from: http://wwwapa.org
Potter, D. 1997. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved from: http://www.amerrescue.org