Critical Incident Stress Management

1. Critical Incident Stress Management

2. Everyone has the potential to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in his or her life • Critical Incident Stress is a normal reaction in normal people to an abnormal event • Critical Incident Stress Management is a method used world wide for assisting disaster personnel to recover from disaster relief work

3. CISM is not a cure for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder • Crisis intervention is not psychotherapy • CISM should be provided by a trained CISM team member • CISM contains interventions for individuals, groups, families and organizations

4. Crisis intervention is a temporary, but active and supportive entry into the life situation of another during a period of acute distress • Those who provide the crisis intervention have an obligation to provide follow-up services

5. Common signs and symptoms of critical incident stress show up in four main categories • Cognitive • Physical • Emotional • Behavioral

6. Crisis intervention is also known as “Emotional first aid” • People who require help during and after a disaster do not always display signs and symptoms right away

7. Victims and operational personnel do not always benefit from the exact same psychological interventions in the after math of a disaster • A person’s time orientation can be disrupted in a disaster situation

8. One common fallacy is that once the damage has been done by a disaster, you cannot really alter the psychological reactions of the disaster victims in a field hospital

9. There are seven distinctive psychological phases of a disaster • Warning 5. Rescue • Alarm 6. Recovery • Impact 7. Reconstruction • Inventory

10. The word psychological always implies two factors • Cognitive • Emotional

11. All three of the following conditions have to be present to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • Experiences a horrible, terrible, frightening, or threatening event • Displays symptoms that last longer than 30 days • Experiences a significant disruption to normal life pursuits

12. Phases of Crisis • Pre-crisis phase • Crisis Phase • Disorganization phase • Reorganization phase • Post-crisis phase

13. There are seven core elements to a CISM program • Simplicity • Brevity • Innovation • Pragmatism • Proximity • Immediacy • Expectancy

14. Goals of Crisis Intervention • To stabilize the current situation • To mitigate the impact of the crisis • To mobilize appropriate resources to assist those in the crisis state • To normalize the crisis response • To assist people to turn to adaptive functions