[Free Guide] Critical Illness, Intensive Care, And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

The guide utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for understanding and treating PTSD. It explains the psychological impact of ICU stays, including the role of delirium and trauma memory processing. It emphasizes the importance of meaning-making and coping strategies, highlighting common maladaptive beliefs and how they can perpetuate PTSD symptoms. Therapists are encouraged to help patients process fragmented trauma memories and explore site visits or patient records to aid recovery.

ICU survivors often experience disorientation and memory gaps due to sedation and delirium, making trauma processing more complex. Maladaptive interpretations of these unusual sensory experiences (e.g., hallucinations or delusions) can maintain hyperarousal and intrusive symptoms. The guide emphasizes meaning-making, reconstruction of trauma narratives, and, where appropriate, site visits or reviewing medical records to fill in memory gaps—strategies supported by trauma-focused CBT literature (Murray et al., 2020).