Citation

Hodgkinson PE, Stewart M. Ind. Environ. Crisis Q. 1993; 7(2): 145-154.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Industrial Crisis Institute - Bucknell University)

DOI

10.1177/108602669300700205

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Fifty percent of those involved in catastrophic events will be sufficiently affected to need professional help. The trauma experienced is not simply a set of symptoms (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), but a major change in the person's "assumptive world", the way the self and the world around it is understood. Crisis intervention must focus on allowing victims to psychologically "process" the events and their reactions by assisting them to build frame works of understanding within which their shattered assumptions and new perceptions of themselves may be ordered. Psychological debriefing is put forward as a model of crisis intervention which facilitates this process. A "Debriefing Continuum" is identified in which three types of debriefing; group, large group, and individual may be placed and contrasted. A sequence of intervention is proposed.