It is impossible to provide a complete list of incidents that may result in psychological trauma. What affects one person may not affect another as we are all affected by different things at different times of our lives. However some of the common causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) include:
Life-threatening incidents and violence
Some occupations present more of a risk, such as the Armed Services and Emergency Services. Other jobs may have higher than usual levels of incidents such as robberies or physical, sexual or verbal assaults on staff. Examples of these can include:
- Security staff and those on public reception duties
- Teachers
- Doctors and nursing staff
- Social workers
Accidents
Accidents are particularly problematic where they involve:
- Disfigurement
- Perceived or actual threat to life
- Loss of limb or ongoing disability
- Loss of employment or status
Chronic exposure to distressing events
“Emotional Contagion” arising from dealing with people in a high level of distress, hearing stories of trauma, grief and loss and seeing human misery on a regular basis, e.g. a social worker or a volunteer working with victims of violence.
Major incidents / Disaster
Most people associate Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with major incidents and disasters and, sadly, the UK has seen many of these over the years. It can be tempting to perceive disasters as happening to someone else. However, more recently, the threat of terrorist attack has become very real to civilian targets. With travel (for business and personal purposes) making the world a smaller place, even incidents as far a field as the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 9/11 New York terror strikes can result in casualties from the UK.