Citation
(2007), "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder", Health Education, Vol. 107 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/he.2007.142107bag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Internet review
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is not new, Shakespeare described reactions to acute stress in many of his plays and Samuel Pepys also recorded his own terrified reactions to the Great Fire of London in 1666. Although the public was aware of the traumatising events of the First and Second World wars, it was probably the Vietnam War that brought PTSD into public consciousness. Continuing conflicts around the world and especially in the Middle East mean that incidence of PTSD is unlikely to diminish in the near future. PTSD is not of course only associated with wars, major disasters like the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise, or more recently the Tsunami and the terrorists attacks in New York, Madrid and London, all leave victims with PTSD in their wake. It has been estimated that 70 percent of people will be exposed to a traumatising event during their lifetimes and of these 70 percent, 20 percent will go on to develop the symptoms of PTSD. PTSD is a complex condition, not fully understood, and treatment is often long lasting and in many cases ineffective. Can the internet offer the victims of PTSD, or indeed their family and friends, any hope in helping to come to terms with the condition?
PTSD
Many web sites are a triumph of presentation over content, they look great but tell us nothing. This web site is the reverse, a triumph of content over appearance, it looks awful, but the content is first rate. The responsibility for this web site is Andrew Murphy, an ex British Army soldier who saw active service in Bosnia and as a result suffered from PTSD himself. The web site he has produced is a reaction to the poor medical help he received following his discharge from the services. The first thing a user will notice about the web site is that it is black, the background is black and the text varies in colour. It doesn’t look good, it looks very amateurish, which of course it is. If the user can get beyond this, the content is well worth exploring. The web site is mainly aimed at service personnel, particularly those who may have faced combat and are now living with the consequences. The web site starts by briefly describing PTSD and then presents the user with a list of questions that in effect act as a diagnostic tool to determine the extent to which a person might be suffering from PTSD. From here there are eight sections including: What is PTSD, Stress, Anxiety, and Relaxation. The content of these sections is largely provided by reliable sources, for example the World Health Organisation, and well-known writers on stress and anxiety. The section on relaxation is practical and most people will find it useful. There is also a link to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines where a range of documents is available describing PTSD and what treatment should involve. This web site, of course, is not an online treatment source, though much of what is available might help sufferers from PTSD. Unfortunately, as the author of this web site makes abundantly clear, treatment for PTSD is not easy to find. This web site has been set up out of personal necessity and frustration experienced by the author and although not the best looking web site, for people interested in PTSD, be they sufferers, carers or health professionals, this web site has much to offer.
Combat Stress
Combat Stress is the web site of the Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society, an organisation that was founded in 1919. The society exists to help veterans cope with a variety of mental health problems including depression, anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance abuse and PTSD. This is not an online treatment web site but it does explain to users what different types of treatments are available from its three treatment centres in the UK. The descriptions of the treatments on offer are well written and include the obvious therapies like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, but also some of the more exotic, e.g. Eye Movement Desensitisation, Art Therapy and Anger Management. The overall design of the web site is pleasing with links to all the main sections appearing across the top of the page as tabs, and as text links at the bottom of the page. The web site only provides a limited amount of information, presumably because it sees itself as a portal to treatment centres rather than a source of treatment. This is a pity because the number of beds available at the three treatment centres only amount to 82 so many people who visit this web site in the hope of treatment are bound to be disappointed. Online treatment for mental health problems is available from other providers, NICE has recently approved online treatment for depression, so it is possible. This web site could be extended to include some form of online therapy and it would benefit many people by doing so.
National Center for PTSD
This is a North American based web site hosted by the United States Department of Veteran Affairs. As you would expect of a web site sponsored by the US Government, this is extremely comprehensive, well designed and has an excellent range of resources. Although this web site is associated with the Department of Veteran Affairs, and parts of it do have a military focus, it does deal with all aspects of PTSD including child abuse, domestic violence and rape.
The information provided is largely text based and is rather dense at times. Few if any illustrations are used but it is possible to download useful fact sheets that are rather more attractive. The web site also has a large number of videos available for download but users should beware, some of these are full-length videos of an hour or more so they will take some time to download even for broadband users. One interesting innovation in this respect is that some of the videos have been divided into more manageable chunks of a few minutes each, which makes downloading a more realistic prospect.
The section dealing with treatments for PTSD is very well written and will be of interest to academics and health professionals as well as people suffering from PTSD and their carers and family.
The web site is not designed to be a therapeutic intervention but much of the content may well have a therapeutic effect. For many people suffering the symptoms of PTSD, but not knowing what or why they are experiencing these difficulties, the information provided by this web site will be beneficial.
One criticism of this web site is that it is very easy to get lost and users may find themselves struggling with Benefit Accounts or Burial and Memorials! Unfortunately the many different sections of the Department of Veteran Affairs have the same design and appearance so it is easy to wander off into unknown territory.
Finally, this web site does have a feedback section so the user can email the designers and point out what is good about the web site and what has caused them problems. This feedback section not only deals with the content of the web site but design and navigation issues as well.
PTSD Alliance
www.ptsdalliance.org/home2.html
The PTSD Alliance is a group of four major health organisations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Anxiety Disorders Association of America, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Sidran Institute. Their web site is an excellent example of how the Internet can be used to educate both lay people and professionals. The content of the web site is organised around four groups of users: people suffering from PTSD, family or friends of sufferers, health professionals, and the media. Each of these four sections is accessed via a pull down menu on the home page. The content of each of the four sections follows a similar pattern with a menu of items presented to the user. This menu does vary slightly as it is tailored for “Consumers”, “Family and Friends”, “Professionals” and the “Media”. Consumers will find information on what PTSD is, how it is caused, diagnosed and treated. Similar information is also available for family and friends. There is also a useful section dealing with some of the myths that surround PTSD, e.g. that only war veterans suffer from it, or not being able to cope is simply a sign of weakness.
In the section aimed at health professionals, under the heading of “self-care”, the notion of vicarious traumatisation is considered. Professional carers of people with PTSD can themselves become traumatised and this part of the web site offers useful guidance to help health professionals deal with this possibility. Finally there is a resource centre where users can download booklets. At the time of writing there were only two available, one aimed at people with PTSD and another for the health professionals. Both of these booklets are available free of charge and their content is excellent. Overall this web site is an excellent example of how to convey health educational materials clearly and effectively. There are no gimmicks, very few images and no interactivity, just clear text written in an easily digestible format and presented simply and without fuss.