Why Cope When You Can Heal?

Book excerpt: Why Cope When You Can Heal? is an essential resource for doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare professionals—and the leaders who support them—as they navigate the traumatic stress they have experienced and continue to face. COVID-19 has traumatized the world—and no group has been more impacted than frontline healthcare workers. They’ve worked without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), witnessed mass death, and been forced to make choices that haunt them. Many have fallen ill, while others have worried endlessly about their own health and that of their loved ones. Additionally, all of this is happening in the context of a divided nation, a struggling industry, and a “just get over it” culture that exacerbates the problems healthcare workers face, while minimizing their suffering. These factors have created the perfect storm for widespread stress, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness—and, increasingly, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Medical doctor and psychiatrist Mark Goulston shares practical, evidence-based techniques and treatments for managing traumatic stress that will fill you with hope and inspiration. In Why Cope When You Can Heal?, you will discover: real-world accounts and experiences from frontline workers; an overview of treatment options; and exercises, tools, and tips that you can use today. This guide will help you—and those you love and support in the COVID-19 battle—begin the process of healing from the inside out and reconnect with the joys and rewards of career and life.