[Psychotraumatological aspects in intensive care medicine]

In the context of intensive care medicine, patients, their relatives, and more infrequently members of the ICU team can be affected by potential trauma. Acute stress disorder often results. Psychological symptoms of critically ill patients should therefore be regularly screened in a standardized manner in order to be able to identify and treat patients with a high symptom burden. Some traumatic stressors in intensive care medicine can be reduced using trauma-sensitive communication. Psychological and psychotherapeutic interventions can complement this basic care. High quality communication with relatives contributes to a risk reduction with regard to their subsequent psychological stress. On the part of the ICU team, stress should be differentiated from potentially traumatizing events and both problem areas should be dealt with preventively. After experiencing a traumatic event during work, a procedure analogous to physical work accidents is recommended.