Psychology: fundamental concepts and research

Debriefing

Post-Crisis Stress Debriefings

Psychological debriefing is a structured crisis intervention meeting that is commonly used as a post-trauma support intervention strategy in a wide range of settings, including the emergency services, the military and mental health services and the technique consists of a discussion and review of the traumatic event or critical incident through a series of phases (Regel, 2010). The methodology uses a period of about ninety minutes to talk to the victims about what they experienced and what they might expect as a result of what happened. One of these debriefings will generally have seven stages and should be conducted between seventy-two hours and fourteen days after the event.

It is argued that this program should not act as a standalone program for trauma victims. That is, the value of the debriefing is largely a result of the beginning of the development of a support network. The reason, put simply, is that over 30 years of research have demonstrated the following benefits (Regel, 2010):

1. Social support is a major protective factor following life events/trauma

1. There are different types of social support -- informational, practical, and emotional

1. The type of social support required is a function of context and individual needs, which vary over time

1. It is important to match any support provided to the needs of beneficiaries, whoever they may be.

Thus it is argued that psychological debriefing and CISM should be viewed as a form of social and organizational support, and not an intervention to prevent PTSD.

Yet the debriefing as an intervention has shown significant promise. If the debriefing is shown as one "tool" or one component in a more comprehensive toolbox then it can be a successful piece of a multicomponent crisis intervention program. It has been used to mitigate the "macho" brittle defensive structure with which be common among emergency workers and make these individuals develop a greater awareness of the psychological impact of their work and make them more likely to seek out services that can help them instead of suffering in silence (Lewis, 2002). Thus it can be said that the debriefing approach definitely adds value to the intervention options for post-crisis situations.