Posted on 06/16/2012 10:20:31 AM PDT by smokingfrog
VANCOUVER – Damage done to the psyche of those unwillingly caught up in last year’s Stanley Cup riot was the most expensive part of workers compensation claims related to the mayhem.
In total, 24 of 51 filed claims were accepted by WorkSafeBC, the provincial workers compensation agency. Only four of them were for post-traumatic stress disorder, but the awards for those claims consumed $71,000 of the $117,000 in claims incurred in the riot’s aftermath.
The Canadian Mental Health Association on its website says PTSD symptoms include flashbacks or nightmares, emotional numbing and withdrawing from friends and family.
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Kerry Jang, a psychiatry professor at the University of British Columbia who is also a Vancouver city councillor, said he was not surprised to learn of the PTSD claims after watching riot footage live on TV.
Jang said he was particularly concerned about those beaten while trying to stop rioters, police who were attacked and terrorized store clerks.
“I was wondering if, for example, the store clerks at London Drugs who had to lock themselves in a room were also suffering from a form of it because they could hear the smashing outside,” said Jang.
“Watching the things being described afterwards in the media, it seemed like some pretty PTSD-like symptoms.”
Jang said the disorder is most commonly associated with emergency workers and military personnel, but that a situation like a riot could yield sufferers.
“If you feel absolutely threatened, it has a very different cognitive affect,” he said. “I’m certainly sure they felt their life was truly threatened in a real, significant way.”
Jang said the media storm after the riot could have worsened the symptoms for those suffering if they had been asked by reporters to recount their experience over and over.
(Excerpt) Read more at metronews.ca ...
I was very disturbed by the riots, too. Eventhough I’m not Canadian, I wonder if I could get a little sugar, too.
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