ABSTRACT
Until the 1990s there was little awareness of the possible psychological ‘fall-out’ of Intensive Care (ITU, Intensive Therapy Unit). A number of doctors, nurses and psychologists have now turned their attention to the problem. The research is generally within the medical model, using the psychiatric paradigm of acute and post-traumatic stress disorder (ASD, PTSD; see p. 30ff.) and delirium, and focuses on what might be causing distress to Intensive Care patients (Ridley 2005).1 The incidence of PTSD among postITU patients has been found to average over 9 per cent (Jones et al. 2007), i.e. three times as high as that of victims of assault or of non-injured war veterans. This gives some idea of the intensity of the problem. This chapter offers an alternative, existential perspective on what I have called ‘the whole ITU event’ – namely the person’s lead-up and admission to ITU, their stay in ITU, discharge from ITU on to a ward and discharge from hospital (Barnett 2006a, 2006b).
