Mark Creamer

Posttraumatic stress disorder: Treatment

The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Group Treatment Program is a time limited mental health outpatient service that the Agent can approve for workers who experience post traumatic psychological distress as a result of a work-related injury or illness. The PTSD Group Treatment Program aims to assist eligible workers by: uf0a7 reducing the burden of post-traumatic psychological distress uf0a7 facilitating access to timely and effective psychological treatment, and uf0a7 improving return to health and return to work outcomes. Following a Pre-Program Psychological Assessment a worker participates in a range of modules covering education, symptom management, skill development and return to work. A worker’s partner or other first degree relative may be given the opportunity to be involved in an accompanying Partner and Family Support Module as this forms part of the injured worker’s treatment. If required, accommodation may be arranged for a worker participating in the PTSD Group Treatment Program.

Posttraumatic stress disorder: Syndrome

© The Author 2015 L. Miller, PTSD and Forensic Psychology, SpringerBriefs in Psychology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-09081-8_2 One of the themes that informs this book derives from Thibault’s (1984) observation that “the first step to making an accurate diagnosis is to think of it.” That is, no psychometric test or printed decision tree can substitute for solid scholarship and experience in the field that the clinical therapist or forensic examiner practices in. Unfortunately, many psychological “experts,” not to mention attorneys, judges, case managers, and the ordinary people that form the juror pools that many posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases depend on, have an incomplete or erroneous understanding of exactly what PTSD, is and what it is not. Remember, if you are conducting a forensic psychological evaluation in a PTSD case, you will probably be called upon to explain the basis for your findings in a written report and/or testimony at deposition or trial (Chap. 7). This chapter will explain the phenomenology, diagnostic criteria, and theoretical models of PTSD and associated syndromes. The next chapter will place PTSD in the context of a variety of mental disorders that may be confused with PTSD or that may comorbidly complicate its diagnosis, treatment, and forensic analysis.