PTSD Resolution UK Forces' Veterans Mental Healthcare. The charity provides treatment through a UK network of 200 therapists. Treatment is free to Veterans, prompt, with verified results.
2. The Hidden Injury
The dead - remember
The visibly injured - repair and support
The invisibly injured – ignore and forget
3. Invisibly injured – the challenge
Numbers
5 million Veterans, + 20,000 each year
20% with MH problems = 1 million cases
+ Reservists and families = another million?
Time “ticking bomb” – ‘late onset’ – 2030….?
4. Why invisible?
Ignorance – “I thought there was something wrong
but I didn’t know what”
Denial – “There’s nothing wrong with me”
Avoidance – “I’ll run away, hide, lock myself up…”
Guilt – “Why did I survive and not him?”
Stigma/shame – “I’m not meant to be like this”
6. What’s wrong with the present
‘system’?
Diagnosis is hard to get – time, distance
Symptoms pathologised separately
GPs often prescribe meds for anxiety etc
Psychiatrists often prescribe meds and/or in-
reach
IAPTs, Combat Stress - delays, distance,
poor results
Families lost in the NHS, not acknowledged
7. Non diagnosis
Deterioration of emotional control – anger
Damage to relationships at work and home
Co-morbidity not treated – one symptom at a
time
Increasing despair and distress
Self medication on drink and drugs
Resort to crime for funds, anger, revenge
Courts, prison
8. Self diagnosis and referral
Self awareness
Family awareness
Employer awareness
Early intervention
Self referral
9. What’s needed?
One number to ring or address to email
Immediate and intelligent response
Early therapeutic engagement
Local to home
As few sessions as possible
Privacy, no referrals required
Humane, no re-living or re-telling
Cheap, or free to those who cannot afford
All symptoms dealt with incl drink
10. What’s needed? (Contd)
Hope
Psycho-education
Involvement of Families
Involvement of work colleagues if necessary
Better understanding in the judicial system
Recognition that PTS changes people and
should be taken into account when
sentencing
11. Sample PTSD Resolution data
1212 Cases since 2009, 7 per week
150 sample cases evaluated
CORE10 and IES-E measures both used
4 females, 146 males
Mean age 43, range 23 - 85
Mean no. of treatment sessions between 5
and 6
12. PTSD Resolution evidence of
effectiveness - snapshot
Using the IES-E scores:
• 131 cases had a valid pre-treatment score
• 122 had a valid post-treatment score (93% data
capture)
• For these 122 cases, pre-treatment average score was
54 and post-treatment average score was 24
• 79 of these 122 cases were above 50 pre-treatment
• 66 of these 79 (83%) were below 50 post-treatment
• 59 of these 79 cases (75%) had improved by 20 points
or more
13. Call to Action
One number 0300 302 0551
200 therapists UK wide
Sustainable funds NEEDED for therapists
Trauma Awareness OFFERED
for employers
for families
Charity Support needed– volunteers, trustees
www.ptsdresolution.org
Thank you
Hinweis der Redaktion
Thank you for asking us to speak at your remembrance event. I was 32 years in the Army, Commanded the 1st Battalion the Cheshire Regiment, and retired aged 51 as a Colonel. Spent 10 years in industry, and the past ten years as a therapist.