The Politics of Treatment: A Qualitative Study of Canadian Military PTSD Clinicians

There has been an upsurge in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research, but these efforts have not included trauma clinicians. Using a constructivist grounded research methodology, we examined clinicians’ views about military PTSD, their experiences in utilizing accepted interventions, and the personal impacts of this work. Our findings indicate that clinicians struggle with conceptualizations of PTSD, accepted treatments, and the requirements of navigating the Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) bureaucracy. Demands to negotiate occupational realities while attempting care for clients underpinned experiences of emotional exhaustion. Contrasting the literature on secondary trauma, bureaucratic forces, implied expert status, and lack of supports for clinicians were at the root of exhaustion. Military trauma clinicians appear caught in the politics of treatment with detrimental effects on their health. This study is the first to explore clinician views on the benefits and costs of working with military trauma survivors.