Medical treatment injuries patients needs

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a term that is bandied about fairly indiscriminately, and a word of caution is needed about its use. Properly conceived, it is a formal psychiatric diagnosis with strict, specific criteria. We have no idea how many people suffer from the full syndrome after medical treatment but the number is probably small. However, the incidence of some of the symptoms is probably very much greater. Many injured patients suffer from nightmares about their treatment and time in hospital, from persistent and intrusive recollections of their care and other problems, but nevertheless not from the full constellation of symptoms that makes up post-traumatic stress disorder. Depression appears to be a more common long-term response to the chronic problems of medical injury (Vincent and Coulter, 2002), although there is little research in this area. Whether people actually become depressed and to what degree will depend on the severity of their injury, the support they have from family, friends and health professionals and a variety of other faaors (Kessler, 1997). 

---