ABSTRACT
What toll may prolonged adverse circumstances, that fall short of an extreme trauma, take on an individual? In this chapter, it is suggested that one possible response is a symptom constellation that resembles PTSD but without the state of ‘terrified surprise’. For example, a person who watched their partner die of cancer over a 12-month period may afterwards have flashbacks of being told of the diagnosis, or of their partner's delusions, as a side effect of the medication and seeking help. They may avoid attendance at further funerals. The author has termed this response prolonged duress stress disorder (PDSD). It features similar mental time travel to that in PTSD and may be associated with other disorders such as depression. But PDSD is not in the official diagnostic nomenclature, however, there is always likely to be a gap between the latter and the clinical realities, and a need to build bridges, however temporary. In this chapter, a case of PDSD is considered in which the client was subjected to prolonged workplace bullying, dismissed from his work and was enduring the protracted stress of taking the matter to an Industrial Tribunal.
