What kind of professional help is available for survivors of trauma?

• Most individuals after traumatic experiences, including bereavement, will not require professional help, although there are good reasons why some individuals will need this.
  
  
• Professional help should be considered if:
• individuals find that their symptoms continue to be troublesome even after 4 weeks; some may even have worsened.
• symptoms badly affect the individual's quality of life, relationships and ability to work.
  
  
• The general practitioner will know what professional help is available in the area in terms of, for example, psychotherapy, social work, counselling services and trauma specialists. 
  
  
• Unfortunately, there is no single treatment which is guaranteed to relieve survivors of trauma of all their post-traumatic symptoms.
  
  
• If an individual is referred to a specialist or specialist agency, there are 4 broad approaches which are likely to be used, and often they will be used in various combinations.
  
  
• The 4 broad approaches are:
• counselling
• debriefing
• psychotherapy
• medication