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3.15.5 - Anxiety, Psychological Trauma and the Difficult Patient in Intensive Care

from Section 3.15 - Psychiatric Disorders Encountered in Intensive Care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

Ned Gilbert-Kawai
Affiliation:
The Royal Liverpool Hospital
Debashish Dutta
Affiliation:
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, Harlow
Carl Waldmann
Affiliation:
Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading
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Summary

Key Learning Points

  1. 1. No one chooses to become an intensive care patient – adjusting well draws both on coping skills and on experienced, empathic staff to help vulnerable people.

  2. 2. Anxiety is the norm, not the exception, in a busy, noisy ICU. Even high-standard ICU care can bring back memories of previous bad experiences, especially psychological traumas such as childhood abuse.

  3. 3. Early identification of anxiety disorders (including trauma-generated) and multi-level interventions will reduce anxiety amongst patients, their carers and staff.

  4. 4. Experienced ICU staff deal with a range of personality traits and diverse reactions to illness. Staff supporting one another is the most effective intervention.

  5. 5. Up to 25 per cent of discharged ICU patients have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms – there are subgroups more likely to get PTSD and minimising ICU benzodiazepine use has been shown to diminish it.

Type
Chapter
Information
Intensive Care Medicine
The Essential Guide
, pp. 448 - 451
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

References and Further Reading

Bienvenu, OJ, Neufeld, KJ. Post-traumatic stress disorder in medical settings: focus on the critically ill. Curr Psychiatry Rep 2010;13:39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groves, JE. Difficult patients. In: Stern, TA, Fricchione, GL, Cassem, NH (eds). Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry, 5th edn. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2004. pp. 78–81.Google Scholar
Hatch, R, McKechnie, S, Griffiths, J. Psychological intervention to prevent ICU-related PTSD: who, when and for how long?Crit Care 2011;15:141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mealer, M, Jones, J, Moss, M. A qualitative study of resilience and post-traumatic stress disorder in United States ICU nurses. Intensive Care Med 2012;38:1445–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Myhren, H, Ekeberg, O, Toien, K, Karlsson, S, Stokland, O. Posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depression symptoms in patients during the first year post intensive care unit discharge. Crit Care 2010;14:R14.Google Scholar
Wade, D, Hardy, R, Howell, D, Mythen, M. Identifying clinical and psychological risk factors for PTSD after ICU: a systematic review. Minerva Anestesiol 2013;79:944–63.Google ScholarPubMed
Wake, S, Kitchiner, D. Post-traumatic stress disorder after intensive care: a patient’s journey. BMJ 2013;346:3232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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