Research Research Project Help?

[Elizabeth Kruse]

Hello my name is Elizabeth, I am currently attending Humber College (first year) for Early Childhood Education.
I am doing a Social Action research project and my topic is PTSD. I chose this because I wanted a topic I felt was not discussed or viewed in detail in the general public but was important. I live in Toronto and have been searching for organizations that deal with the public (adults and children) and not military. The problem I'm finding is that unless there is a referral from a doctor I have not been able to contact anyone.
If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks :)

 

[Elizabeth Kruse]

A few things I would like to know is:

• What support are you getting and from where?
• Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?
• What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

 

[anthony]

Let me help you out and start this off...

What support are you getting and from where?

Me personally, I don't get any support as I don't require it at present, however; I do have it available here readily through ease of counselling, psychologists, psychiatrists and other support agencies.

Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?

Whilst non-military are supported here in Australia, I would say they are not supported as much as military, as military are a focused group in specific locations, so they are easily isolated for treatment purposes. Civilian aspects are so vastly spread, I don't believe adequate centres are established here in Australia to support non-military.
What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

Well, its not lack of information these days, that is for sure. I would say... the stigma associated with any mental illness, as that tends to still provoke the aged old response with employers, stops people getting jobs if divulged, etc. I think direct group support is lacking at a civilian social support level.

 

[becvan]

• What support are you getting and from where?

I still have a therapist through our local mental health programs, this forum, and a local support group not related to mental health in anyway.

• Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?

ROFL, what treatment centers would those be? I'm in Canada and have never heard of a treatment center except one for us "civies!"

• What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

A complete and utter lack of knowledge, specialists, access to programs involving PTSD. Our mental health system (for the public) is in complete shambles to begin with. When you add in something that is not common and needs highly specialized care, you can forget getting what you need. I had to move four hours away from where I was living and fight like hell to get what I did get! The second thing is stigma against mental health and lack of knowledge. It gets really sickening having every person out there ask you if a) isn't that the thing vet's get or b) yeah I have that too! my dog died!

bec

 

[Elizabeth Kruse]

So far, many people who I have talked to in person and via this and other forums say there is little support in Toronto for PTSD and that they have as much luck finding help centres as we are (none, could not get a hold of one person still) and yet I had a somewhat heated discussion with a CAMH rep at school and she says there is a lot of support and disagrees completely that the government is not supportive enough. She also said that there is a lot of advocacy as it stands for this issue.

It will be interesting the outcome of this project.

I thank you for your continual sharing of knowledge and firsthand experience, It has honestly given me something to think about. :)

 

[Abrasky]

What support are you getting and from where?
I have a psychologist who gives me a deeper sought of therapy. She's the best one I've had.

Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?
The Better Access to Psycholiogy Medicare Scheme is good as it has helped fund my treatment.Cost is really hard. I've spent a lot on specialists over the years before the medicare scheme came in. That just wasn't funded by medicare back then.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?
Finding a good therapist was hard to me at first. There was only one therapy that I improved with after trying most therapies. That therapy was a deeper sought of therapy that tended to bring back memories. A lot of psychologists I saw couldn't do this. They either are not able to do deeper therapy or are scared to due to suing.
I also found a lot of therapists couldn't diagnose me properly. One told me I was lazy rather than give a PTSD diagnosis. Then a saw a doctor for 2 years who said I had Generalized anxiety disorder. Then 3 psychologists in diagnosed me with PTSD and I was able to start getting treatment finally 2 years after getting PTSD. So it can be a hard road.
It is also a long road. It took me 8 years of therapy to get off antideppressants. And 12 years to start working good sometimes again. The amount of time it takes to get better is really hard.

 

[PerfectEmpire]

I don't know if you're still looking for responses, but I wanted to contribute just in case!

What support are you getting and from where?

I see a private, licensed counselor/social worker for therapy.

Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?

Around here, PTSD is thought to be a military thing so the answer to that would probably be NO! Also, I don't know of any legitimate treatment centers specific for PTSD.​

What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

Access to quality care! Barriers to such access include financial barriers, lack of properly trained therapists, and fear of social stigma.​

 

[Abbi]

I don't know if you're still looking for responses, but I wanted to contribute just in case!

Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?​

Around here, PTSD is thought to be a military thing so the answer to that would probably be NO! Also, I don't know of any legitimate treatment centers specific for PTSD.​

What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?​

Access to quality care! Barriers to such access include financial barriers, lack of properly trained therapists, and fear of social stigma.​

Saved me typing time - DITTO

 

[nie]

• What support are you getting and from where?
  • I have a psychologist that I see weekly for therapy and a psychiatrist that I see about ever 4 months for medication management. I would say that most of my support though come from people on this forum.
• Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?
  • I don't even know where a treatment center would be around me. I know that the military can go to the VA hospital to get help, but besides that I didn't even know there were centers for help.
• What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?
  • I think the biggest challenge is people not thinking it is a valid illness, and that you should just "snap out of it." Also, I think the stigma associated with PTSD is that only "weak" people suffer from it. I guess another challenge is learning how to be successful in your own therapy. If I one is not willing to own up and work it out, then I think one will be stuck in the illness without hope.

 

[Elizabeth Kruse]

I really appreciate all your responses and it's really helping me grow and understand. I would love to keep hearing what your opinions and options are of the support you receive or not. From the information I have gathered and continue to gather over time, I really will encourage others to understand the difficulties that the public faces in the search for help.

Although I personally have not experiences PTSD my brother who is in the military has suffered in the past when returning from overseas. Through the military he got the support needed and it started me thinking of what about the public and average people? How are they receiving help? What support are families getting( it was difficult for my family to understand my brother and didn't know how to help)? I never hear about the government helping them?

I've very glad I decided to ask you the members of this forum for insight. Everyone here is supportive of one another and it's wonderful to see such a community. It makes me feel welcome and I was worried I would be intruding into something that many people would not want to share. I thank you all again for your continual help and learning. :)

 

[Kintsugi]

• What support are you getting and from where?

I have free counseling and a psychiatrist through my school in North Carolina (a private college). However, the psychiatrist is only available for three hours one day a week, 1-4, and our college requires 15 hours of work a week, so I'm not sure how much support he is. The counselors and psychiatrist are all overbooked.

• Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?

I've never heard of a treatment center. The closest thing I can think of is the RISE (Resistance, Interference, Safety, and Empowerment) center, which specializes in sexual assault.

• What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

Finding supportive resources earlier rather than later. I think that there are often many people involved in the process of trauma, and there is a lot of room for pitfalls, everything from the denial to people surrounding you to legal shortcomings to misdiagnoses. I think that victims are sometimes viewed as rabble-rousers in the midst of a problem, working against the solution (which in my experience is denial and ignoring whatever incident it was), and I think that this has a big hand in hindering the healing process.

 

[seedling]

What support are you getting and from where?

I'm seeing a psychologist who specializes in PTSD, retired from the VA. I've also seen a psychiatrist for consultation about meds.

Are treatment centres encouraging the government to support those who are non-military?

There's a VA hospital near us but I've never heard of any treatment centers.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for people suffering from PTSD?

It might be easiest to say that the biggest challenge is that there are so many big challenges. For me one of the biggest is how long the treatment takes - it's a slow healing process with ongoing pain along the way. Another big one for me is that it is hard to verbalize 'what it is' to others who have not experienced it.