DIVER MEDIC & AQUATIC SAFETY
Suffers might also feel a sense of guilt about the event (including 'survivor syndrome guilt'), and the following symptoms, which are typical of anxiety, stress, and tension: • Agitation or excitability • Dizziness • Fainting • Feeling your heart beat in your chest (palpitations) • Fever • Headache • Paleness Signs and tests There are no tests that can be done to diagnose PTSD. The diagnosis is made based on a certain set of symptoms that continue after you’ve had extreme trauma. A doctor will do psychiatric and physical exams to rule out other illnesses. PTSD – the onset PTSD can develop almost immediately, but research is now showing that signs and symptoms of PTSD may emerge many, many years later. Some of those involved in the Falklands War have thirty years after the conflict developed late onset PTSD. Such incidents may occur as the result of an everyday event that triggers a memory, a traumatic memory. Whether onset is immediate, short term or long term, the disabling effects are the same. An example is that one of the seriously injured guys we work with on the Deptherapy programme was driving through Windsor prior to our trip to Florida. Some idiot fired a paint ball at his windscreen, which immediately triggered a flashback and PTSD. Reducing the effects Critical Incident Stress Debriefing has been shown to be effective in preventing the development of PTSD. Certainly the ability to talk about an event can be liberating and sharing the experience can reduce the psychological pain. In the longer term, counselling by a qualified person, experienced in PTSD, can reduce or eliminate the illness; in some
30 32 48
cases when the condition is chronic it may never be alleviated. Medication is often prescribed by doctors. I suppose the easiest description is to describe these drugs as having a relaxing or sedative effect. Personally I am not a fan of such drugs and have seen too many who after coming off the drugs revert to the same condition they were previously experiencing. Complex PTSD As I mentioned earlier this is a compounded version of PTSD. The scars it leaves can often be far more pernicious than even chronic PTSD. Long-term support and counselling, supported by medication, is often the only solution. To explain the effects even better, I think of my own scenario: During my career I have experienced many dozens of traumatic incidents, some amongst the worst atrocities committed in the UK. To date, I have never needed medical treatment or counselling. But I know, even for me, tomorrow something could happen to trigger a response to the trauma I have seen. That is the reality of PTSD. Deptherapy case studies Let’s use the name ‘Z’ for the 24-year-old Rifleman I spoke of before. To listen to the interview from his post Deptherapy programme, which is part of the ongoing medical research into the rehabilitative effects of the programme, is a tear jerker. The vehicle he was travelling in was blown up when it hit an IED (improvised explosive device); he suffered a serious knee injury and developed PTSD. Not properly addressed, his condition has persisted. Z talks about the sudden onset of symptoms: spontaneous crying, sleepless nights, flashbacks, a feeling of emptiness, ‘being an empty shell’, and feelings of being ‘worthless’. He said to me during a particularly dark time for him:
“Rich, I want to end it all – at times I don’t recognise who I was, I just want it (the PTSD) to go away; it hurts so much.”