The experiences of people with PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interview study

What is it about?

1) Why did we do this research? There has been concern about the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous pandemics have been associated with an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The experience of a pandemic for those with pre-existing diagnoses of PTSD has not previously been researched. 2) What did we do? We designed our study in collaboration with people with lived experience of PTSD. We also got ethical approval from the NHS. We asked people receiving treatment at the Traumatic Stress Service (TSS) to take part in interviews. Ten people participated by sharing their experiences during the pandemic. We analysed the interviews to look at some of the similarities in people’s experiences. This gave us ‘themes.’ 3) What did we find out? Themes related to changes in how a sense of threat was experienced during the pandemic, with both factors increasing and decreasing threat recognised; challenges related to trying to cope with the pandemic and factors that helped with coping.

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Why is it important?

This research allowed people with PTSD to share their experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aspects of the pandemic that changed participants’ sense of current threat, and barriers and facilitators of coping, were identified as key to participants’ experience. We suggest clinical implications in the paper for psychological treatment for PTSD during a pandemic. We suggest that it may be important to understand and respond to changes in appraisals of threat, and identify emerging barriers and facilitators to coping.