Motor Vehicle & Work Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents happen almost moment-by-moment in Australia. Some people have these experiences without major consequences, but others do not, experiencing anxiety, strong responses to loud noises or distress long after the accident, which is out of the ordinary.
Similarly, when some people continue to experience difficulty after surgery from injury or work accident, it can slow down their rehabilitation and successful return to work. The influence of thinking on behaviour can have a negative effect on full recovery.
Clinical Services provided for Motor Vehicle & Work Accidents:
Acute Stress
A traumatic event can leave someone experiencing severe anxiety, distressing emotions and being avoidant. If these intense responses remain following an accident, hold ups, rape, or violent attack, the symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder can be quite debilitating.
In the first few weeks following a traumatic incident some people begin to experience more intense distress that begins to interfere with their normal life.
Symptoms for Acute Stress include:
- An intense fear or sense of helplessness.
- A decrease in your awareness of your surroundings.
- A sense that you are not quite real (Depersonalisation)
- Re-experiencing some of the traumatic event in one or more ways, repeated images, dreams, thoughts or flashbacks, or a thought of re-experiencing the event hyper-vigilance)
- A physical reminder may remind you of the event as if you are reliving the trauma
- A feeling of being numb
- A sense that things around you are unreal (derealisation)
- You avoid triggers that cause you to remember the event
- You may feel anxiety (or difficulty sleeping, concentrating)
The symptoms last up to a month following the traumatic event. Experiencing these symptoms is quite normal following a traumatic event and most people start to improve natural over the first few weeks. But some people begin the experience a lot of distress because of their reactions, or these reactions interfere with their normal lives. If the symptoms last longer, PTSD may have developed. They may benefit from a short term treatment program.
Treatment:
Treatment programs have been found to be very effective in preventing the development of more long-term difficulties.
If you or a loved one have experienced a traumatic event and remain distressed, please contact PsychWell to arrange an initial consultation and discuss the benefits of further treatment.
Post Traumatic Stress
Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) is a common reaction some people develop who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. Most people who experience a trauma will have some kind of psychological reaction, fear, sadness, guilt or anger, but they often quickly improve over time.
Some people go on to experience a more severe reaction to traumatic events called PTSD, which can severely disrupt their normal daily lives.
Individuals with PTSD may experience the following symptoms:
- Reliving the trauma:
- Can include memories that seem out of control, nightmares and flashbacks that make someone feel as they are reliving the experience all over again. These memories are often triggered by something seen, a sound, or something that reminds them of the event.
- Avoidance:
- Is how people often cope with the anxiety that is provoked when reminded of the event. Staying away from the people, places or things that bring back the event. Sometimes, people feel numb or detached from other people or their surroundings, and turn to alcohol or drugs to cope.
- Stress:
- Or anxiety is a typical response, interrupted sleep, feeling irritable or angry most of the time, having difficulty concentrating, being easily startled and on guard.
Untreated, PTSD can become a very debilitating disorder, affecting psychological well being and daily living. There are effective treatments of PTSD, many people resolving their symptoms.
Treatment:
Involves learning abilities to moderate anxiety and stress, desensitisation from the traumatic experiences and learning to feel safe again.
If you or someone you know is feeling the debilitating effects of a traumatic event call to book an appointment to discuss a treatment program.
Work Injury Rehabilitation
Injury management follows the rehabilitation from psychological and physical injury due to accident or work injury. Commonly work injury management involves insurers such as private and Work Cover compensation claims.
An example is psychological counselling due to adjustment to injury following a workplace accident. Others include, posttraumatic stress due to workplace robbery, critical incident or accident.
Successful rehabilitation often involves physical, occupational and psychological input to facilitate improvements and maintain progress of rehabilitation. The sooner an injured worker rehabilitates means a successful return to work.
The longer a worker is rehabilitating and away from their place of work decreases the probability of effective return to work. This can have detrimental effects for both worker and employer. Becoming psychologically debilitating for the worker and costly for the employer.
To discuss work injury counselling aimed at maximising the effective and timely return to work call to book an appointment.
