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Work Related Ptsd

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Hello. I worked as a nurse in acute mental health for years, and it was mental health that gave me PTSD. I live in a place where everyone knows someone. I was case managing a young man who unexpectedly killed his friends father. It was handled badly and whilst the powers that be knew about it, no one bother to tell me until my clients dad rang me up and with the wail of a wounded animal told me what his son, my client had done. That was when I heard my brain crack.

I took time off work and the culture of nursing is "Don't be weak . Get back up on the horse" had me back at work after three months.But I struggled and struggled and finally after the constant blurred boundary of home and work (as we knew the victims family) and the constant unexpected shock of things related to this popping up( murder trial) I was shattered.

I took a week off, I walked into work and I was called into the office over something trivial and I thought it had happened again, that someone had died and this time they were going to tell me rather than let me find out and my brain actually broke. I have never worked since.

At first the workers compensation insurance paid me as they said it was my pre-exisiting anxiety that had been aggravated, but now they have stopped, because a psychiatrist they sent me to said any PTSD would have stopped once I left work.

Now I have to go and see a court appointed psychiatrist and I am really not coping.
I am going to be sitting in front of a stranger trying to prove to them that I am not;
a. A malingerer
b. That PTSD has significantly messed every thing up.
c. That there is an impairment, that my GP, 2 psychiatrists and a psychologist agree on and the only specialist who disagrees is the one the insurance company pays for.
d. And that this is PTSD , not my old buddy anxiety that I used to manage very well. The fact that I rattle at night with so many more and different medication should be proof of that.

Is there anyone who has had work related PTSD, because its feeling really lonely here in Australia. I have never been able to meet up with anyone who has been in the same position as me.
 
Hi Singingyamada,

I am sorry to hear what you are going through. I too experienced my PTSD in the workplace and my psychologist has been very helpful with workers comp etc. My situation is not as bad as yours however, and I have still been attending work despite how hard it can be at times, however I have changed workplaces.

That being said, are you in Australia? And if so which state?

From what I have been told the insurance company/ employer can't demand that you see one of their therapists or doctors, and it is actually not recommended by workers comp. However you can see an independent one to both parties. Were you seeing the same psychologist before the incident for your anxiety issues or have you only just started?

Because I know that with my therapist if it was ever question she can tell the difference between the pre and post symptoms. I was previously seeing her in regards to depression, but then I was physically assualted and verbally abused in the workplace and although I may have been a bit more vulnerable to developing symptoms, the assualt is what triggered most of it, ie/ the nightmares, anxiety etc.

PTSD symptoms won't just dissappear when you leave the workplace, and any trained Psychologist or Psychiatrist would no that... it is a journey that will take time... although some of the triggers are removed whilst not in the workplace there can be other triggers when in other environments. Ie/ for me I freeze whenever there are verbally abusive people around even if not directed at me ie/ in shopping centres etc, or aboriginal people despite the fact that it's not the same place or situation.

You can also appeal the insurances verdict through workers comp where they will independantly evaluate your situation and symptoms. And if you wanted to go down the path, you can also look at suing workers comp, because apparently you can't actually sue the company that you were working for.

I hope that has given you a bit of an insight! But just hang in there! Things will get easier and just be yourself and let the psychiatrist know exactly how you feel. They will be able to tell a lot of it anyway!

Goodluck, and let me know if there is anything else that I can help with!!
 
Thanks . I live in NSW. I have been seeing my GP for 13 years before the incident . My anxiety was well managed, a bit like diabetic, in that I would have to take sick leave every now and then and get the medication tweaked. And the psychiatrist I saw before hand would say the same.The insurance company sent me to an "independent' psychiatrist shortly after I claimed and he said it was an aggravation of my anxiety so they paid.
After 2 years, my solicitor said bite the bullet and claim lump sum and get it all sorted now as the insurance company will start trying to find a way to back out. They had already tried by harrassment, but my GP and Psychiatrist all told them to back off as they were making me worse with their 'commando calls' out of the blue harrassing me about re training and I would end up in a corner in tears.

I have been medically retired and its likely I wont work again,

My solicitor sent me to a psychiatrist for an assessment for permanent impairment and it was good (though in a bad way) to be validated as to how limited I am. However the insurance company sent me back to their same psychiatrist who had me painted as virtually on holiday and it was he, that said that I was well, I was back to my anxious self as any PTSD would have stopped when I left work. So with their one medical opinion vs my four different proffessionals the insurance company stopped payment.

We had to go to the Workers Compensation Commission who arbitrates all issues and disputes and now I have to go and see another court appointed psychiatrist.

I think the policy with insurance companies must be
1. Find a way not to pay
2. If you have to pay , find a way to end payments early
3. Then f ind a way to stop paying
4. Then drag it out for as long as you can and see if the claimaint either dies or gives up because of the stress of it.
5 If all of the above don't work then try to diminish the amount to be paid.

Thus I am trying to find someone who has been through similar to me.
 
hey while my PTSD is not work related i just wanted u to know im a nurse also and get the whole nursing culture of "get over it". I am currently on stress leave and am wondering if i will ever be able to return to work due to inability to concentrate, although it is still early days for me. As a profession nurses are great at taking care of others but useless at looking after ourselfs and colleagues.
Good luck with your fight for insurance. Hope it all goes well.
 
Yep nurse managers would eat their young. Its always do more with less and you only as good as your last call into the office for doing something wrong. And I was in a moderate to severe community mental health team. The management were flawed. they knew what my client had done and denied any problems on the day. I had to hear it from my clients father.
 
thats horrible they should have told you. You shldnt have to hear news like that from any one else
 
It was . Even if they had to check the facts they could have redirected all calls to me and taken me somewhere and told me. but they didnt . I knew something had happened the minute I walked into work as the director of mental health was standing in our office with a big yellow envelope which always has a file and that always means a death or a critical incident. I asked them them three times had something happened and three times they said no , then they left our office, They stood and denied there was a problem. And left me to hear it off my clients father who had the sound of a cat in pain. I can still hear it, And when I turned around I was in the office alone. Then one of our doctors came in. I have never experience such horror, shock , helplessness and then froze. I couldnt move. I was abandoned.
And this is by management.
 
OMG that is shocking what were they thinking. You think as nurses they would realise the relationships that you form and how news like that would affect you, as clients do become like family/ friends due to the nature of the job. It is not always easy to maintain a strictly professional relationship especially when working in community where you get to know the families etc, as you do get pretty close especially if you live in the same community you work in.
 
Gige it was drummed into us that we took on the family when we took on the client. and you do. what made it worse was that the man who died was know to my family.
 
I dont know if its unusual or not, but I myself 'cracked' at work and ended up in the hospital. But returning to the same job is what I needed or what worked to get me better.. But then again I cant seem to sort out what is the exact cause of my PTSD being that there was quite a lot of abuse/trauma in my childhood, loss and then all my years of drug abuse. My work was stressful and I was still drinking at that time in my life, guess I could have stubbed my toe and got PTSD? Hard to understand because the big triggering event had PTSD like symptoms in itself.
 
I had a crap childhood with a paedophile uncle but I went and got counseling and sorted it. So work was the last thing I ever thought would do me in. However with the benefit of hindsight, I can see what working in mental health does to a lot of the workers in the way of alcohol or drugs or burn out.
 
I had a crap childhood with a paedophile uncle but I went and got counseling and sorted it. So work was the last thing I ever thought would do me in. However with the benefit of hindsight, I can see what working in mental health does to a lot of the workers in the way of alcohol or drugs or burn out.

I tend to agree with you there. I was drinking energy beers and energy drinks a lot, I think that had something to do with all this for sure. I had just quit both prior to the incident. I read that the withdrawl symptoms for people sensitive to stimulants in energy drinks can be quite severe, that combined with alcohol withdrawl and long periods of drug use in my past might have done it. Sounds like I pretty much fried my nervous system.
 
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