| Summary: | This thesis is concerned with the lived experience of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following a medical event. It is comprised of a literature review and an empirical study. The literature review uses a meta-ethnographic methodology to synthesise data from qualitative literature and literature with a qualitative element that explores the lived experience of PTSD following childbirth. The results illustrate that difficulties trusting services, problems maintaining social relationships, and difficulties managing challenging emotions were common when participants developed PTSD following traumatic birth. The review demonstrated that women reported intrusive and worrying thoughts regarding their future as well as the event. These experiences may indicate health anxiety alongside PTSD following traumatic medical events. The review indicates that further qualitative exploration is needed into PTSD following different health conditions. It also demonstrates that further research is needed into the phenomenology of intrusive thoughts following medical trauma to explore whether these are indicative of PTSD or health anxiety. The empirical study is an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of stroke survivors' experience of PTSD. The findings illustrate that there is a complex range of psychosocial difficulties associated with PTSD following stroke. Findings closely mirrored those from previous qualitative research into the lived experience of PTSD following medical events. Results were considered in relation to cognitive models of PTSD, but consideration was also given to grief models to help explain findings. Study limitations, future research, and clinical implications were discussed.
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