More than 200,000 cases of PTSD due to the pandemic, say Royal College of Psychiatrists
They are particularly concerned about frontline workers and those who have been hospitalised with the virus
There could be more than two hundred thousand cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder across the UK, due to the pandemic.
That's according to latest estimates from Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Who are particularly concerned about frontline workers and those who have been hospitalised with the virus.
Ruth Noble, a counsellor from Diss told us that its unsurprising that they're suffering from the disorder:
"Right at the beginning we had no idea what was going on, where the virus was coming from and how we could protect ourselves. There are people out there that have not had the chance to rest and recover from that stage. They have just carried on working in a dangerous place, trying to get their head around new information all the time."
"We are going through a global trauma. But just because we are going through a trauma doesn't mean that we will then all go on to be diagnosed with PTSD. But there's over 7 billion people on the planet, it means the chances of people going on to be diagnosed with PTSD, because they can't work there way through it and can't return to that feeling of safety is higher".
She went on to say that those diagnosed with the condition are solely focussed on avoiding danger:
"Because you are so pre-occupied with this trauma that made you feel so unsafe, the things that you enjoy and care about become less important. You can't quite get back to those feelings again because you're still really busy trying to keep yourself safe and that's using up all of their energy".
She concluded saying that while frontline workers are very busy, there's support out there for them:
"The NHS will probably be bare the brunt of all this to start with. That's going to be really tricky for them because their staff are the ones that need the support. So, they are not going to be able to provide the support, because they need the support themselves. Nevertheless, it's really important to say that there is an army of therapists out there for them".