Qualitative study investigating the professional and personal effects of patient suicide on general practitioners in Northern Ireland

Objective: There is a dearth in suicide literature addressing the impact on general practitioners (GPs) of losing a patient. We aimed to examine the personal and professional impact as well as the availability of support and why GPs did or did not use it. Design: A qualitative study using one-to-one interviews with participants recruited using snowball sampling. Setting: The study was conducted in a primary care setting. Participants: Interviews were held with 19 GPs within primary care in Northern Ireland. Results: GPs are impacted both personally and professionally when they lose a patient to suicide, but may not access formal help due to commonly held idealised notions of a ‘good’ GP who is regarded as having solid imperturbability. Fear of professional repercussions also plays a major role in deterring help-seeking. Conclusions: There is a need for a systemic culture shift within general practice which allows doctors to seek support when their physical or mental health require it. This may help prevent stress, burnout and early retirement

Adverse and Benevolent Childhood Experiences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD): Implications for Trauma-Focused Therapies

Objectives We set out to test, using latent variable modelling, whether adverse and benevolent childhood experiences could be best described as a single continuum or two correlated constructs. We also modelled the relationship between adverse and benevolent childhood experiences and ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms and explored if these associations were indirect via psychological trauma. Methods Data were collected from a trauma-exposed sample (N = 275) attending a specialist trauma care centre in the United Kingdom. Participants completed measures of childhood adverse and benevolent experiences, traumatic exposure, and PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Results Findings suggested that adverse childhood experiences operate only indirectly on PTSD and CPTSD symptoms through lifetime trauma exposure, and with a stronger effect for PTSD. Benevolent childhood experiences directly predicted only CPTSD symptoms. Conclusions Benevolent and traumatic experiences seem to form unique associations with PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Future research is needed to explore how benevolent experiences can be integrated within existing psychological interventions to maximise recovery from traumatic stress

Qualitative study investigating the professional and personal effects of patient suicide on general practitioners in Northern Ireland

Objective There is a dearth in suicide literature addressing the impact on general practitioners (GPs) of losing a patient. We aimed to examine the personal and professional impact as well as the availability of support and why GPs did or did not use it.Design A qualitative study using one-to-one interviews with participants recruited using snowball sampling.Setting The study was conducted in a primary care setting.Participants Interviews were held with 19 GPs within primary care in Northern Ireland.Results GPs are impacted both personally and professionally when they lose a patient to suicide, but may not access formal help due to commonly held idealised notions of a ‘good’ GP who is regarded as having solid imperturbability. Fear of professional repercussions also plays a major role in deterring help-seeking.Conclusions There is a need for a systemic culture shift within general practice which allows doctors to seek support when their physical or mental health require it. This may help prevent stress, burnout and early retirement