1/30/2013 – For Some Caregivers, the Trauma Lingers

Recently, I spoke at length to a physician who seems to have suffered a form of post-traumatic stress after her mother’s final illness.

There is little research on this topic, which suggests that it is overlooked or discounted. But several experts acknowledge that psychological trauma of this sort does exist.

“When something happens that the individual perceives and reacts to as a tremendous stressor, that can intensify and bring back to the forefront of consciousness memories that were traumatic,” said Stanford professor of psychiatry and Center on Longevity faculty affiliate Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, “It’s more an exacerbation of an already existing vulnerability.”

 

Read the full article at The New York Times.