Concern Rises over Abuse of PTSD Claims
July 28th, 2009 |
A GoodTherapy.org News Summary
While the majority of people who report symptoms associated with post traumatic stress disorder confront challenging and sometimes life-threatening difficulties requiring extensive therapy and other treatments, there is a growing concern over the ability of others to claim such symptoms in a sheer effort to receive compensation money. Taking a look at the history of PTSD as well as its recent appearances in the news (many of which are associated with large sums of money for what might seem like fairly regular or expected events), a UK publication raises the question of whether the medical health professions should be given a more active and intense role in discerning the well-being of those who have experienced high stress and trauma.
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may be true, but how bad is the problem of people cheating the system. i would hate to give a bad wrap to those who are really suffering from PTSD
It sickens me people do that. The genuine sufferers will fall through the cracks and their diagnosis will be delayed by having to join the queue behind these time wasters. What’s needed are professionals capable of assessing PSTD correctly and also outing these fraudsters.
This is fraud! The law should come down hard on perpetrators and make examples of some to make the rest think twice before this becomes an epidemic. A high profile court case, a jail sentence and being liable for the court costs would send a powerful message from the legal system.
In any system with large numbers there will inevitably be some “spillage” or “cheating” or “spoilage.” It would be awful to deny services to those who need it.
This is especially true for children and youth who may have experienced Complex Trauma (early chronic maltreatment within a caregiving relationship). This can cause significant impairment in several different domains and have very serious long term consequences, but may not specifically meet the criteria for PTSD (a life threatening event)
How does the system tell the “cheats” from the needy? I dont think there is a clear line especially in PTSD.
Like so many other mental health concerns are there any clear cut parameters that can tell you this is definitely what one suffers from or are a lot of the diagnoses just made as educated guesses?
A diagnosis is an educated guess.
I’ve seen vaguer parameters Sandy. This GoodTherapy.org link has the diagnostic criteria.
309.81 DSM-IV Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
http://www.goodtherapy.org/therapy-for-trauma.html
lots of frauds have happened after the global change in economics. I think health care is being watched more strictly than ever before. It is possible however to overlook a genuine case.
What would be the benefits of getting a wrong PTSD diagnoses for someone in which it does not exist? Attention maybe or meds that the person seeks for various other reasons? This makes no sense to me. I know that the qualified therapists out there are sure to have a good grasp on what PTSD looks like in patients and do their very best to make the correct diagnosis for the patients and their families every time. It does sadden me that there are people in it only for the money though. That is someone whose head and heart are definitely not in the right place.
In some ways this is shocking, but in others it is not surprising. PTSD has terrible symptoms and especially for soldiers that deal with incredibly traumatic events. Through research I have seen many vets from our current wars suffering from PTSD, a lot of which do not get treated. I can only imagine how few from the Vietnam War have been diagnosed and treated. Ginseng, of course you have got it spot on, early treatment has a chance of reducing the symptoms. I have been reading some works by Dr. Prout regarding the treatment of PTSD, I believe his work would be essential for those studying PTSD treatment. For Vietnam War vets this early PTSD treatment has been lost. This must be learnt for our returning troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, around 50% are not treated because of the stigma surrounding PTSD with army veterans. This really does need to stop because of the suffering that vets incur as well as those around them. To read up on PTSD treatment visit Dr. Prout’s website, at http://www.mauriceprout.com, containing a full reference of his material on PTSD.