PTSD: The Injury You Won't Find on an X-Ray
Research suggests post-traumatic stress disorder occurs in upwards of 25 percent of all survivors of critical illness or traumatic injury.
By Dr. Jamie Coleman, Contributor May 25, 2018, at 6:00 a.m.
As a trauma surgeon, I often meet people on one of the worst days of their lives. The stress of being involved in a traumatic event can leave both physical and emotional scars. Although we diagnose and treat injuries before patients leave the hospital, there is one very serious injury that can still occur even after they're discharged: post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
PTSD is commonly associated with current and former members of the military, but you don't have to be in the military to be at risk for developing it. In fact, PTSD is relatively common in people who have suffered a traumatic injury, undergone major surgery or faced a critical illness. PTSD has been shown to occur in upwards of 25 percent of all survivors of critical illness or traumatic injury. It's also equally important to remember that not just the patients themselves are at risk for developing PTSD – family members of critically ill patients as well as the health care workers taking care of these patients are at an increased risk. Multiple surveys have shown that more than 10 percent of physicians and nurses in the hospital setting meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
https://health.usnews.com/health-care/for-better/articles/2018-05-25/ptsd-the-injury-you-wont-find-on-an-x-ray
