Prevention

Those most at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are the survivors of trauma, of course. But the next most vulnerable are the rescue workers and volunteers at disasters, untrained in psychological techniques. They are seeing and smelling and feeling vivid, unimaginable horrors and fearing for their lives working in unstable structures. Firefighters and police officers, doctors, nurses and EMTs may have more coping skills. However, all need mental health counseling going on routinely during the recovery phase.

No prevention for PTSD exists, of course, because traumatic events are often unpredictable and random. In some experimental studies, though, certain blood pressure medications, if given immediately and taken over time, have shown promise in lowering the intensity of the symptoms, if symptoms are going to develop at all. The problem is that health care providers cannot predict who will develop symptoms and who will not.