PTSD Prevention for Individuals with Psychosis-Related Disorders

Individuals with psychotic illness and their family members may benefit from emergency or crisis mental health clinical services, but unfortunately these services can also be experienced as traumatic (e.g., involuntary hospitalization, seclusions, restraints, etc.). In this workshop we will review symptoms of trauma/PTSD, common developmental risk factors for PTSD among individuals with psychosis, and challenges that patients and families report about crisis service utilization. We will also introduce emerging PTSD prevention strategies. Our interactive discussion will focus on identifying unmet patient/family needs related to PTSD prevention during crisis care episodes to help guide future intervention work.