Medical Trauma vs. PTSD - What’s the Difference?
Introduction
Supporting a child with Congenital Heart Defects, though incredibly rewarding, can bring with it its own set of unique challenges, one of which is navigating medical trauma and PTSD.
The effects of witnessing your child going through such painful procedures brought on by a Congenital Heart Defect diagnosis is not studied nearly as much as it should be despite its commonality.
“Recent research shows that parents of children with critical congenital heart disease (CHD) are at an elevated risk for mental health problems. ”
In fact, recent research shows that parents of children with critical congenital heart disease (CHD) are at an elevated risk for mental health problems.
Up to 50% of these parents report clinically elevated symptoms of depression and/or anxiety and 80% present with clinically significant symptoms of trauma.
Stigma around admitting uncomfortable, but normal feelings such as shame, guilt, anger, regret, hopelessness, resentment and more often stymies the dialogue around a topic that I argue needs to be discussed more.
The good news is, there is hope! Early interventions are proven to manage, and in many cases mitigate, mental health conditions brought on by trauma.
In this article, you will learn the differences between medical trauma and PTSD and how to recognize each in yourself, the importance of early intervention and types of interventions available to you, and unique services available to you being a CHD parent.
Shame, Guilt, Anger, Regret, Hopelessness & Resentment about parenting a child with Critical Congenital Heart Disease.
Shame, Guilt, Anger, Regret, Hopelessness & Resentment.
These confusing and complex emotions are not easy to manage, and can lead the caregiver to feel like they are in a constant state of hypervigilance, experience frequent flashbacks or survivors guilt, feel “stuck” in a particular emotion, or experience delayed grieving. While this can make them feel isolated and alone, quite the opposite is true. In fact, 32% of parents whose children experienced a hospital stay of any kind experienced PTSD symptoms¹.
But I am here to tell you there is hope. A life with PTSD and medical trauma is attainable with the right help.
Lets start by orienting ourselves with what we DO know.
What do we know about medical trauma and PTSD?
1. With trauma and PTSD of any kind, early intervention is the key to reducing symptoms → Longitudinal studies have consistently shown that access to early interventions with therapy accelerates recovery of acute PTSD². This means the longer it goes ignored, the worse the symptoms, and the longer the symptoms are experienced. Intervening with therapy as soon as the traumatic event happens is key to these optimized outcomes.
2. While the benefits of trauma based care is well established, there are still significant barriers to executing early intervention for medical trauma³. This is due to a lack of funding, knowledge from leadership about trauma informed care.
3. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Exposure Therapy, and Somatic Therapy are some of the few therapies that have proven to be most effective at reducing long term presence and severity of symptoms.
Before we learn more about what each type of therapy does, lets first learn about the differences between medical trauma and PTSD.
What’s the difference between medical trauma and PTSD?
Many practitioners consider PTSD and medical trauma to be the same, while others insist of their differences. Rather then getting stuck in the semantics, its important to keep our eyes fixed on the larger lived experience of each and its impact. Let's take a deeper dive into each condition:
PTSD occurs after the traumatic event has taken place and can last anywhere from a few weeks to years after the traumatic event takes place.
Medical trauma is referred to as the event the trauma took place. Some can experience trauma without developing PTSD, but PTSD if experienced always follows the trauma.
Symptoms of PTSD include obsession over the traumatic event, repeated and unwanted memories of the traumatic event, panic attacks, increased startle response and hypervigilance, recurring nightmares and flashbacks, re-living the traumatic experience, severe distress when reminded of the event, and even physical reactions to reminders of the event such as increased sweating or elevated heart rate.
Regardless of if one is experiencing medical trauma or PTSD, the lived experience is real and significant. Let's discuss how you can get help through a variety of resources.
How do we treat medical trauma and PTSD?
Fortunately, there is hope. If treated early, effects of medical trauma and PTSD can be reduced if not eliminated. Finding what treatment works best for you may take some trial and error, so if one of the below does not seem to be working, still remain committed to seeing the process through
1. Cognitive Therapy. This form of therapy uses behavior to address the symptoms of PTSD. The most common forms of cognitive therapy used to treat medical trauma and PTSD includes exposure therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT).
2. Somatic Therapy. Whereas cognitive therapy is centered around challenging thoughts that lead to PTSD related symptoms, somatic therapy focuses on easing the physical tension resulting from stress responses. This is a good place to start in therapy for those who are not yet able to talk about their experiences.
3. Eye Movement Desensitization Process. This form of therapy is incredibly effective on minimizing if not completely eliminating effects of trauma and PTSD. It involved moving the eyes in a particular pattern while processing through the trauma.
If you are a family member struggling with PTSD or medical trauma as a result of Congenital Heart Defects, there is an organization dedicated to supporting you through Ollies Branch.
Ollie’s Branch is an access point to mental health specialists that support heart families (including the heart warrior and their parents, siblings, grandparents, and other primary caregivers) through therapy sessions.
To access their services, be sure to visit their website HERE.
Brynne Bish
Director, Heart Warrior Ministries
Brynne Bish, JD, MBA, MS received her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling ad Johns Hopkins University where she specialized in treating clinically ill individuals and their families through the complexities brought on by disability. She was motivated to help others realize their own potential by addressing psychological limitations they have placed on themselves as a result of living in a world with a disability. This largely came from her own experience of being diagnosed with a progressive neurological disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the challenges she experienced in adolescence. She is co-founder of Heart Warrior Ministries that her and her husband created to help other families navigate the challenges brought on by Congenital heart Defects.
Sources
1 Franck LS, Wray J, Gay C, Dearmun AK, Lee K, Cooper BA. Predictors of parent post-traumatic stress symptoms after child hospitalization on general pediatric wards: a prospective cohort study. Int J Nurs Stud. 2015 Jan;52(1):10-21. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.06.011. Epub 2014 Jul 5. PMID: 25047550.
2 Shalev AY, Ankri Y, Gilad M, Israeli-Shalev Y, Adessky R, Qian M, Freedman S. Long-term outcome of early interventions to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016 May;77(5):e580-7. doi: 10.4088/JCP.15m09932. PMID: 27135249
3 Huo, Y., Couzner, L., Windsor, T. et al. Barriers and enablers for the implementation of trauma-informed care in healthcare settings: a systematic review. Implement Sci Commun 4, 49 (2023)