Challenges for providing health care in traumatized populations: barriers for PTSD treatments and the need for new developments

ABSTRACT

There is a growing recognition about the effects of traumatic experiences on mental health worldwide. With ongoing conflicts, natural disasters, interpersonal violence, and other traumatic events it is estimated that approximately 70% of the global population have been exposed to at least one lifetime traumatic experience. Research shows a substantial proportion of survivors, especially in low- and middle-income countries, would have a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During recent decades effective evidence-based treatments for PTSD have been developed. However, there are significant barriers to mental health services and trauma-informed treatments are not easily available for trauma survivors. From the perspective of social psychotraumatology several core barriers to trauma treatments were identified, including the lack of acknowledgment, and avoidance of disclosure. The need for cultural sensitivity in PTSD treatments, the potential of alternative ways of treatment delivery, and the involvement of non-professional volunteers are proposed as directions for future developments in the field.

KEYWORDS:

• Trauma
• barriers
• global mental health
• PTSD

Responsible Editor Virgilio Mariano Salazar Torres, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Responsible Editor Virgilio Mariano Salazar Torres, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Acknowledgments

None.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethics and consent

Not required.

Paper context

This paper discusses the barriers for treatments of PTSD in traumatized populations and calls for action in this field. As the lack of resources and social contextual factors contribute largely to the PTSD treatment gap, several potential future directions in this field, such as the application of alternative e-health methods of treatment, volunteer involvement, and new attitudes toward survivors, are proposed.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by a grant [No. MIP-006/2015] from the Research Council of Lithuania.