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Posttraumatic mental health in community populations

Media personnel and exposure to trauma study

Journalists and other media personnel are often exposed to scenes that can be stressful and impact their ongoing well-being. The Dart Centre Australasia in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Post Traumatic Mental Health is conducting a study that aims to identify the levels of emotional difficulties, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in the media community. The study also aims to identify factors that may increase an individual’s risk to developing PTSD or depression after exposure to trauma.

This study will assist the media industry to understand posttraumatic mental health issues associated with exposure to trauma.

All media personnel are invited to participate in this confidential study, which entails a 10-12 minute online survey, and a follow-up 10 minute online survey 6 months later.

For further information please contact the primary researcher Sophia Villis, e-mail: svillis@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

The Traumatic Injury Research Program

Our long-term traumatic injury research program found that more than 30 per cent of people with serious injuries developed mental health problems 12 months after their injury.

About the research

Research director: Dr. Meaghan O’Donnell

The Traumatic Injury Research program aims to promote recovery for people seriously injured in an accident or assault by addressing the mental health problems they experience following such an injury. The program commenced in 1999.

The psychological impact of traumatic injury

More than 300,000 Australians are admitted to hospital each year with a serious injury as a result of an accident or assault. Our research has found that more than 30 per cent will develop a serious mental health problem within a year, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or an anxiety disorder. The psychological impact of serious injury is clearly a significant public health issue. Yet, these mental health problems are not currently identified or treated in most hospitals. After injury, health care necessarily focuses on physical recovery. However, psychological recovery is just as important in helping people return to work and regain their quality of life.

Research questions

The main questions posed by this research program are:

“How are people with traumatic injuries coping psychologically following their injury? Are they recovering on an emotional level? What are the best ways we can promote emotional recovery?”

Findings so far

The frequency with which injury occurs makes it one of the leading causes of trauma related mental health problems in Australia. In our large epidemiological studies we found that up to 10 per cent of people with traumatic injury developed PTSD, 16 per cent developed depression and 11 per cent developed generalised anxiety disorder. The majority of those who developed these mental health problems did not have the problem when they were injured. This suggests that mental health problems following injury are a significant and persistent problem following injury.

Vulnerability

The majority of people who have experienced traumatic injury feel anxious and sad, but these feelings usually become less intense over the first month. However, some people experience high levels of these symptoms that do not improve over time. They are likely to continue to have anxiety and depression symptoms over the next 12 months.

These posttraumatic mental health problems have both direct and indirect impacts on injury recovery outcomes. We found that a person’s levels of anxiety and depression in hospital were a far better predictor of 12-month quality of life and disability than were aspects of the injury itself. This suggests that the management of an individual’s psychological health in the acute hospital setting should be a necessary component of trauma care services.

One question raised by these findings is how best to target early treatment. Studies have shown that although traumatic events occur frequently, the majority of individuals are resilient and will recover over time without intervention. How then to identify early those individuals at high risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder or depression? To date, few screening instruments are available to identify vulnerability to later psychopathology.

Posttrauma Adjustment Screen (PAS)

In a study completed in 2006, we developed the Posttrauma Adjustment Screen (PAS), a world-first short screening index that accurately identifies at one week after injury, patients at risk for experiencing high posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms at 12 months following injury. We are using this screen in our current study (Towards effectiveness: piloting a stepped mental health care model of service delivery) to assess trauma patients in two Australian hospitals to help us identify who should receive early psychological therapy in order to help them overcome mental health problems that develop following injury.

Early psychological intervention following injury

A large focus of our current research aims to examine the best way to promote mental health recovery following traumatic injury. We are conducting studies which aim to help inform the best time to offer psychological therapy to people who are having difficulties adjusting following injury. Given the majority of people recover well following injury, it is important not to intervene too early. At the same time, we know that many people who develop mental health problems do not get professional help so their problems can become chronic. We are testing models of early psychological intervention that involve screening people to identify those at risk for developing mental health problems, then monitoring this group to see whether they do develop such problems. We then offer those who have high symptoms at one month post injury early psychological interventions to treat their problems. The results from these studies will be available in 2009.

Traumatic Injury Research Program (TIP) studies

Our team of researchers are currently running a number of studies that aim to identify the psychosocial factors that contribute to poor recovery, and to identify effective strategies to improve recovery after injury. These are listed below:

For more information about these studies, contact us.

Research partners

This research brings together a multidisciplinary team of Australia’s leading posttrauma psychologists, trauma surgeons and consultation liaison psychiatrists. ACPMH leads the program, among the first of its kind in the world, in collaboration with the National Trauma Research Institute, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, the Alfred, Westmead, Royal Adelaide and Royal Melbourne Hospitals.

Publications and articles

Below are the scientific articles that we have copyright permission to place on our website, and links to media releases and other articles. We are still waiting for permission for our scientific other articles. For a complete list of all ACPMH's scientific publications please click here.

Scientific articles

Other articles