It's been interesting to follow the Tweets from the conference at Mass. General Hospital this Friday and Saturday, on the "Complexities and Challenges of PTSD and TBI." It sounds like it was a great conference. One of the items that stood out to me was the statistics being shared about provider burnout. Check these out:
"Not enough social workers, therapists, etc. to help all the people who need help."
"146,000 mental health providers in U.S. Medical Command (MEDCOM),...a huge centralized training that's re-assessed annually for improvements...now (with) significant training resources in place to help providers manage stress."
Studies that MEDCOM has done indicate that provider "burnout" is approximately "35% among deployed psychiatrists," "20% in deployed psychologists," "15% in deployed social workers," and "26% in non-deployed." (Source: LTC Graeme C. Bicknell, PhD, LISW, LTC, MS, Deputy Chief, Behavioral Health Division US Medical Command.)
We've written about "Caring for the Caregivers" frequently on this website, most recently here, in a post entitled, "Too Long a Sacrifice Can Make a Stone of the Heart:The Tao of Self-Care." Acknowledging provider burnout is another aspect OF "caring for the caregivers." The takeaway? Combat stress injures troops AND mental health providers; servicemembers and practitioners alike need stronger support.
(There's a great article by Charles Figley on the topic, "The Art and Science of Caring for Others without Forgetting Self-Care, linked here, suggested by one of the readers on the Facebook site for this website, which is linked here.)
Editor's note: You can follow the PTSD Conference, now over, on Twitter, @PTSDConference; and you can follow this website on Twitter @HealingPTSD.
