Cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder following critical illness and intensive care unit admission
Open accessAbstract
Around a quarter of patients treated in intensive care units (ICUs) will develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Given the dramatic increase in ICU admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians are likely to see a rise in post-ICU PTSD cases in the coming months. Post-ICU PTSD can present various challenges to clinicians, and no clinical guidelines have been published for delivering trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy with this population. In this article, we describe how to use cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD), a first line treatment for PTSD recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Using clinical case examples, we outline the key techniques involved in CT-PTSD, and describe their application to treating patients with PTSD following ICU. Key learning aims: (1) To recognise PTSD following admissions to intensive care units (ICUs). (2) To understand how the ICU experience can lead to PTSD development. (3) To understand how Ehlers and Clark’s (2000) cognitive model of PTSD can be applied to post-ICU PTSD. (4) To be able to apply cognitive therapy for PTSD to patients with post-ICU PTSD.
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Little is known about patients' experiences of post-ICU therapeutic interventions.
“Much literature to date has focused on inpatient interventions to prevent further psychological distress rather than models of outpatient intervention 7 and there is little exploring ICU survivors’ experiences of follow up psychotherapy.”
From “It saved me”: A thematic analysis of experiences of psychological therapy following critical illness and intensive care (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says that published interventions have tended to focus on preventing post-ICU PTSD and that little clinical guidance exists for therapists treating it. That supports a gap in the treatment literature, but it does not establish that little research explores ICU survivors’ experiences of follow-up psychotherapy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSurvivors' guilt has been identified post-ICU.
““Survivors” guilt’ has been identified post-ICU 7”
From “It saved me”: A thematic analysis of experiences of psychological therapy following critical illness and intensive care (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
Most research focuses on the prevention of PTSD; therefore, there is an absence of guidelines on delivering therapy with the ICU survivor population.
“Despite this most research focuses on the prevention of PTSD; therefore, there is an absence of guidelines on delivering therapy with the ICU survivor population. 7”
From “It saved me”: A thematic analysis of experiences of psychological therapy following critical illness and intensive care (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
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A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder
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Payne, L., Flannery, H., Kambakara Gedara, C., Daniilidi, X., Hitchcock, M., Lambert, D., Taylor, C., & Christie, D. (2020) · Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/1359104520937378 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
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IAPT CBT treatment for PTSD following COVID-19-related intensive care admission – a case study
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- Authors
- Murray, H., Grey, N., Wild, J., Warnock-Parkes, E., Kerr, A., Clark, D. M., & Ehlers, A.
- Affiliations
- Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- University of Sussex (GB)
- King's College London (GB)
- Venue
- The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2020
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- e13-e13
- ISSN
- 1754-470X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7251252
- OpenAlex
- W3036847897
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 10
- FWCI
- 0.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (200796/Z/16/Z, 200796)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NF-SI-0617-10052)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, intensive care unit, critical illness, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, COVID-19 pandemic, intensive care unit survivors, psychological trauma
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