Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Course Overview

This Course will increase the awareness and recognition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) whilst also promoting the resilience that individuals and families demonstrate to cope with a range of significant life challenges

Topics

• What are normal and abnormal responses to trauma?
• Diagnostic classification of PTSD
• How does PTSD affect families and children?
• Cognitive, pharmacological, and alternative treatment options for PTSD

Need

Although traumatic and potentially life-threatening events such as natural disasters, conflict and severe accidents can be part of the human experience, for approximately 5—10% of the Australian population, responses to these traumatic events consist of significant emotional distress and subsequent impairment in a person’s ability to live a satisfying life.

An awareness and ability to recognise the difference between normal and abnormal responses to traumatic events is imperative to facilitate early assessment and appropriate intervention to minimise long-term and often harmful consequences.

Healthcare professionals are in powerful positions to influence high-quality care, which ultimately leads to better treatment outcomes for people affected by PTSD.

Purpose

The purpose of this Course is to provide learners with current knowledge about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), its treatment, and how the experience of PTSD impacts upon the emotional wellbeing of the person and their family.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder to initiate early interventions in order to prevent adverse consequences of this condition occurring for the individual
• Link possible long-term behavioural and emotional consequences of PTSD on family members with the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in order to provide holistic care for all people affected by this disorder
• Use common treatment options available in order to assist people to manage symptoms of emotional distress associated with post-traumatic stress disorder

Target Audience

This Course is relevant to registered nurses, midwives and other health professionals who are caring for individuals and families who show signs and symptoms of emotional distress associated with trauma.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Karen-Ann Clarke

Dr Karen-Ann Clarke is a registered nurse and a specialised mental health nurse, with 30 years’ experience of working with individuals and families impacted by the experiences of mental illness. Using a feminist narrative methodology, her PhD research explored the way that women diagnosed with depression made decisions and meanings about receiving electroconvulsive therapy. As a lecturer in nursing at USC, Karen-Ann is responsible for the coordination of mental health curricula across multiple undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Teaching in excess of 900 undergraduate students each year, she is passionate about the value that immersive mental health simulation can bring to student’s learning and clinical skills, and the way that it can safely bring to life theoretical concepts related to mental health care. Karen-Ann currently supervises a number of honours, masters, and PhD students and is part of numerous research projects, involving visualisation and simulation, mental illness, suicide prevention, and the inclusion of people with lived experience of mental illness into the teaching and learning space.