Coping With PTSD in the Workplace
What Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can develop after a person experiences or witnesses a severe single or prolonged threatening or horrifying event.
Causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Causal events include war and combat atrocities, terrorist acts, rape or sexual violence, or serious accidents and injuries.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in the Workplace
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can adversely affect a patient’s job, relationships, physical health, and everyday life.
A worker with PTSD may have physical health issues including cardiorespiratory, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal disorders that affect their work performance and lead to frequent absences.
Symptoms that can affect a worker’s performance at work include:
- Recurrent memories or reliving of the traumatic event even at work
- Distractions from trying to avoid thinking or talking about the event
- Memory problems
- Difficulty with close relationships
- Difficulty experiencing positive emotions
- Trouble concentrating at work
- Angry outbursts or aggressive behavior
Stress at work can amplify the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The condition often leads to depression and substance abuse that is usually hard to hide at work.
If an employee demonstrates any of the listed behavioral or health symptoms an empathetic employer should sit down with them and determine if counseling might be indicated.
What Therapies Does Sands Treatment Center Employ for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD is treated with medicine and psychotherapy. Studies show that trauma-focused psychotherapy is more effective than drug treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Sands Treatment Center employs a variety of PTSD treatments but finds that the efficacy of behavioral therapies surpasses available medicinal treatments.
As opposed to Freudian therapies, behavioral therapies were taken up by therapists in the 1960s to focus more on a patient’s current twisted or abnormal thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes.
Historical Freudian therapies focused on identifying unconscious meanings behind behaviors with the expectation that acknowledging and understanding those meanings would solve the problem.
Behavioral therapists address the problem directly. They seek to help the patient develop and practice strategies for dealing with distorted thinking.
Behavioral therapy is a form of mind control. It was originally used to treat depression which is often associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the 1980s, it became popular for treating many mental health conditions including PTSD treatments, marital problems, eating disorders, and addiction.
Behavioral therapies mesh with 12-step programs, having their genesis with Alcoholics Anonymous founded in 1965. For that reason, behavioral therapies are often combined with a 12-step program for PTSD as well as alcoholism. Alcoholics anonymous teaches addicts to eliminate so-called “stink’n think’n” (i.e., mind control).
Efficacy of Behavioral Therapy
Numerous studies have shown the efficacy of behavioral therapy. Among them is a study manuscript published in July 2012 in PubMed Central (PMC).
The study, “The Efficacy of Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses” reviewed 269 meta-analytic studies of behavioral therapy. The analysis concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy was more effective than other treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health disorders.
Sands Treatment Center
We at Sands Treatment Center have many years of experience treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance addiction as well as other disorders. We use 12-step programs in combination with behavioral therapies. For a consultation, you can meet our experts today or call (844) 200-2509 for more.
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