Thread by @NHS

Good morning and welcome to my fourth day curating the @NHS account. Today the theme is PTSD. Hopefully I can help raise a better understanding of this horrible illness and also dispell some myths about sufferers. Please comment and join in with the conversation 👍👍

Tom
In This picture. Soldiers, police and civilians try to get the wounded to help after the IRA detonate a bomb at a Poppy Day parade in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

1988. The Royal Highland Fusiliers are tasked with collecting bodies/parts after terrorist bomb Pan Am flight 103 and it comes down on the Scottish town of Lockerbie killing 270 people. I know that many men still suffer because of what they saw during this clean up. #MHAW19

British Army Medics at RAF Brize Norton waiting for their flight to Sierra Leone to help fight the Ebola virus. #MHAW19

The sharp end. Taking the fight to the enemy.

Although it's often portrayed in the media that PTSD is common in veterans, the BJP estimate the overall rate of probable PTSD among current and ex-serving military personnel to be 6% in 2014/16. This is an increase from 4% in 2004/6 but is still low.

"Not just for soldiers". Anyone can be diagnosed with PTSD. 1 in 5 firefighters, 1 in 3 teenagers who have survived a horrific car crash, 70% of rape victims, 40% of people who experienced sudden death of a loved one

and an estimated 10,000 women a year following a traumatic childbirth, develop PTSD. ptsduk.org/what-is-ptsd/w…
#MHAW19

Research indicates that veterans may experience mental health difficulties for as long as 12 years after leaving the Forces before seeking professional help. Untreated mental health difficulties can be detrimental to mental and physical health, quality of life and relationships

In 2015 it was estimated that only 50% of veterans seek help from the NHS and charities. Barriers to seeking treatment can be, not recognising they are ill, stigma (both public & self), fear of being judged or miss understood, and fear of people believing they are making it up.

Pathways into mental health care for UK veterans: a qualitative study.
kcl.ac.uk/kcmhr/publicat…

The military mental health charity @CombatStress have helped veterans with PTSD that are in their 80's & 90's. These men have never previously saught professional help for mental health and have lived with their illness since they were in their 20's ☹️