 Print Article
|
CGH saw more than 1,200 such victims in that time.
These figures are from the hospital's 15-month old Psychotraumatology Service, set up to screen and provide early intervention and treatment of trauma-related disorders.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) runs a similar service. Other hospitals refer patients showing signs of distress to their psychology units.
CGH's team, which has eight psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists and a social worker, sees patients admitted after traffic accidents, assaults or family violence.
Such screening is new here, but is standard overseas.
A quarter of the patients screened are given early intervention by the psycho-trauma team. Of this number, one in 10 need further treatment by psychiatrists.
Dr Tang Hui Kheng, a consultant psychiatrist at CGH who is on the team, said the department was set up in response to a rising number of patients with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop following exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal. There were more patients now, she said, because of greater awareness of it.
She said: 'Within a month of the incident, memories of it keep coming back to the patient. It becomes like a videotape, replaying the scene over and over again.'
Such patients, easily startled and distressed by minor incidents, could develop PTSD or become depressed, she added.
Screening for PTSD at CGH takes place within a week of a patient's admission. Patients are asked whether they have difficulty sleeping or recurrent nightmares or whether they are re-living a scary scenario repeatedly.
A month after discharge, all trauma patients get a follow-up phone call that checks on whether PTSD symptoms have eased or emerged.
In 2004, 'Leila' became a CGH patient following a car crash that left her in a coma. Her husband, who was at the wheel, needed major reconstructive surgery on his face, and their friend in the back seat died.
Leila recovered from her physical injuries but became plagued by anxiety attacks over the next four years as the accident kept replaying in her head. She spiralled into depression.
'It took me a while to realise that I needed help from a psychiatrist,' she said.
Her condition touched off frequent quarrels with her husband, and her marriage became shaky. She finally sought out a psychiatrist in March. That it took her that long to do so shows that a stigma is still attached to getting help.
Today, four months on, her demeanour has improved and she is able to talk about the accident.
KKH, which screens children admitted through its emergency department, found that about a quarter of the 300 children screened needed to be treated for displaying some form of fear or concern.
Dr Jasmine Pang of the hospital's Integrated Psychosocial Trauma Support Service warned of the danger of delaying treatment.
'Even something like crossing the road becomes a difficulty and it can really impair functioning and limit what you can do,' she said.
For children, especially, not being treated early could mean the disorder can have a compounded effect later on.
