Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is most often associated with combat soldiers but in fact everyone is at risk – young and old, police and medical staff as well as members of the public.

This is the expert view of Professor Ben Green, director of the Institute of Medicine at the University of Cheste r, who will this evening (Wednesday, February 10) deliver his inaugural lecture at the main Parkgate Road campus on clinical features of recognised psychiatric responses to such traumatic events.

This could include human responses to accidents, bereavement, combat stress, torture, rape and assault.

And the professor will look at current and historical management of those responses by the medical profession.

He said: “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) unfortunately affects around 5% of the population. We think of PTSD traditionally affecting soldiers, but everyone is at risk, young or old; workers in police and medical contexts and general members of the public.

“PTSD not only places a burden of ill health on the individual but also has a scattergun like effect, so that PTSD affects the families of sufferers and more broadly across society.”

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Professor Ben Green's lecture will be delivered in the Beswick Lecture Theatre at the University of Chester's Parkgate Road campus

Professor Ben Green has worked in the NHS in Cheshire as a medical director and as a lead consultant psychiatrist in the secure service at Cheadle Royal Hospital. He is the editor-in-chief for Psychiatry On-Line and Priory Medical Journals – the world’s first Internet medical journals.

He has had roles as a Royal College Examiner, been appointed by the Lord Chancellor to the Mental Health Review Tribunal 2003-2011, he is a University of Liverpool examiner and is a professional advisor and hospital inspector to the Care Quality Commission.

Expert in many aspects of PTSD

Professor Green has recently published research on depression and PTSD, the psychiatric impact of needlestick injury caused by a hypodermic needle or sharp object and the significance of the order in which a person is born and their susceptibility to PTSD and trends in inpatient and community team activity in the NHS 1998-2014.

He has also published papers in psychopharmacology – the scientific study of the effects drugs have on mood, sensation, thinking, and behaviour.

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The lecture takes place this evening (Wednesday, February 10) at 6.30pm in the Beswick Lecture Theatre at the university’s Parkgate Road Campus in Chester. Because of its content, it is not suitable for minors or those of a more nervous disposition.

Tea and coffee will be served before the lecture and a complimentary drink will be available afterwards. Tickets are free but must be booked. Email: j.westcott@chester.ac.uk