Dr Hannah Murray – PTSD Following Critical Illness and ICU Admission (Online)

PTSD can arise after the experience of, and treatment for, critical illness – a timely issue given the current COVID-19 pandemic. Treatment in ICU is particularly high risk for PTSD, with approximately 25% of survivors developing PTSD. Besides being critically unwell and fearing they may die, ICU patients often experience delirium, characterised by acute confusion and often terrifying hallucinations.

Psychological therapy for PTSD after these traumas can be complicated by various factors, including ongoing physical symptoms and avoidance of medical settings and professionals. This workshop will describe the features of PTSD after medically-related traumas and formulate them within the cognitive model of PTSD (Ehlers & Clark, 2000). Key cognitive therapy (CT) techniques will be described, demonstrated and workshop participants will have the opportunity to practise and apply them to their own clinical cases.

Presented by Dr Hannah Murray who is a Research Clinical Psychologist at the Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma, University of Oxford. She is involved in the development and dissemination of cognitive therapy for PTSD and teaches, writes and supervises on this topic.

Due to the current situation we are unable to physically host workshops at the University of Reading. With the ever-changing guidance around restrictions, we anticipate this to be a short-to-medium term arrangement – most likely until September 2021. This is under constant review and we will resume our usual programme as soon as possible, whilst continuing to run the online events as an alternative for those who cannot attend in person.

Events will be delivered using Microsoft Teams, for which delegates will be sent a link for joining. No previous experience of this tool or specific software is required (although we do recommend that you access the event using a connection with good bandwidth).

Taught by leading experts, our workshops provide training opportunities in evidence-based treatments. All of our courses are accredited and are BABCP compliant providing 5 CPD hours, with an approximate 50/50 split between theory and skills. The cost of the workshop includes an electronic CPD certificate. All workshops, unless otherwise stated, are intended for a cross/mixed ability audience.

We also offer a range of training options in all psychological treatments, all of which are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).