A perfect storm for medical PTSD: Isolation, intensive care and the coronavirus pandemic

The traumatic stress associated with medical treatment, the health care environment and chronic illness can lead to a wide variety of mental health problems. Medical post-traumatic stress disorder, or m-PTSD, as well as depression and anxiety, can worsen patients’ physical health and harm their quality of life. Medical trauma arises from a complex interaction of risk factors associated with a person’s unique experiences and their perceptions of the events, as well as environmental factors. But unlike other types of trauma, it is a direct result of experiencing medical treatment – the very interventions designed to protect patients’ physical health and their lives. It is because of this context, in part, that medical trauma is often overlooked and misunderstood. After all, the hospital is where you go to heal.