If you need to be forced, you will either

1) be scared of therapy itself at that time for whatever reason (symptoms may worsen as a result, as control is taken away, and combined with potential mistrust of counsellor with feelings of entrapment).
2) you will think you do not need it and most likely just so 'yes' and 'no' in the right places and get the hell out of there, mumbling something 'about treehugging hippies' on your way out the door.
3) not be in need of counselling at that time.

More seriously, couselling for some after 7/7 attacks in London was forced...shoddy counselling in which they were forced to relive and explain what happened over a few days before being left to continue alone (counselling recieved, box ticked, government placated) is estimated to have led to worsened symptoms or having created them in the first place in some victims.

Now that is a bit of a concern. A few days is nothing to what these people need. More like a year or two of constant counselling to be rid of all the feelings and emotions that are stemming from the incident. Bloody governments...

In my case it could be prevented if I have had a family support or a therapist right after the traumatic event occurred. But I think my case is not so severe.

My answer is no.

For sure it certainly doesn't help in the case of longterm chronic traumas over many years.
And the person needs to be ready to enter treatment, and do so of their own free will. After all, trauma wasn't their choice. What's force going to do except maybe compound the trauma...

this is a really tricky one. I cant see how, if you are forced, it could prevent PTSD. I dont think everybody in society is ready for counselling and being forced to go isn't going to change that. They just wouldn't co-operate.

On the other hand I do think that if it was suggested and offered and became more normal to go to then it would be more socially acceptable to go to and therefore more beneficial. Its all about education. Isn't Australia more forward thinking with this kind of thing Anthony? I had an Australian physio treating me after my accident and he told me in Oz you would go to A&E and after physical exam you would be referred to some sort of trauma counsellor. Is this right? In the UK they give you a plaster (band aid) and tell you to take an aspirin!

Yes and no. What I think has been pointed out is that you can make people fence sitters by how you propose a question. Let em show you-

1. Do you believe PTSD is preventable offered counselling after trauma?
YES! Nearly 100% positive recovery.

2. Do you believe PTSD is preventable if forced into counselling after trauma?
NO! Because if you have to force it you are then placing the other person in another defensive role, and it likely will be destructive to the effort, thus making the PTSD worse.

CJ, your complicating the question though and deriving your own questions in order to justify an incorrect answer. The question is ONLY; Do you believe PTSD is preventable if forced into counselling after trauma? That is it, nothing more, nothing less. It is a yes or no answer, hence the way its structured. The question doesn't ask to be restructured in order to derive an opposite answer or to help people sit on the fence.

You answered the question as NO!

Even what your trying to say between "offered" and "forced" as variated differences, do you believe people would take the "offer" of counselling after trauma considering they don't understand or know about PTSD at that time, and are likely to only think they can work past it themselves?

There are a number of questions you could ask that would derive different answers depending upon the question itself, but none of them would relate as "the same" when it comes to this particular topic IMHO.

I disagree Anthony. You are correct- the question is Do you believe PTSD is preventable if forced into counselling after trauma? NO. Because if you "force" anything, it's involuntary. If it's involuntary, to me that's the same thing as brain washing. If the PTSD recipient is not willing to accept that they have PTSD, then it's a lost cause. If they accept it, but refuse the counseling, then is that their fault or the public's? Theirs, clearly. I see it as being dirty.

Go to work on a farm and don't shower. If you recognize you are dirty, do what you can to get clean. Bathe. Shower. Use a garden hose if need be (When I was younger I'd even take a bath in a cow pond). You recognize the problem, so fix it! If you see the problem, you see you have it, you see what it does to you, but you do nothing, who's to blame? But what will the public reaction be? Will women want to date me if I havn't bathed in two weeks, working on a farm? Hell no! Would I be welcome in school? Hell no! I'll be cast out until I am clean, but even then the reputation will follow.

That's why I have worked hard to rehabilitate myself. I'm the dirty cowboy, but no one will afford me the garden hose, or even a visit to a ditch. So I just gotta do what I can by myself.

CJ, that is a good way to look at PTSD, however; we are talking about counselling after the traumatic event, which is the time where a sufferer can be helped. If they are left to recognise a problem, it is often too late by that stage. Males and females are very different in this aspect also, in that females will go and discuss trauma with someone after the fact, they just might not get the correct feedback in order to remove blame or guilt from them, hence PTSD forms anyway. Males on the other hand are terrible at best of times for talking about their true emotions, hence whether forced or offerer, a male will more often than not reject help because they do not see the problem to begin with. You could tell a person after a traumatic event that they could get PTSD, and explain what PTSD is, but they will still ignore that advice and continue on their own because they cannot understand it until they have it, hence the very nature of PTSD. If you don't believe you will get it, or you don't believe you have a problem, then people won't get counselling. This is why the question is structured so specifically, to see what the general opinions are in relation to the short, sharp answers, yes or no, to the specific wording.

What people need is to be forced into counselling after trauma IMHO, at which point they must continue to be forced for atleast enough sessions until they get the message that they are their until such time as they begin to open up and talk about the trauma and their feelings. If a counsellor is happy with what they say, then no more needed; if not, more counselling until such time as the counsellor could signoff and say they have gotten it out of them.

Too late is not the answer basically.....

I don't think it would matter for males though either way.... because their genetic stubbornness and pride would sit it out and waste all the time in the world until released from therapy, then they kick themselves after the fact when PTSD takes over their lives a decade on.