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Psychological First Aid - Lecture 1: Terms and Concepts

This document introduces psychological first aid (PFA) as a compassionate and supportive intervention for mitigating acute distress following disasters or emergencies. PFA is designed for public health personnel, educators, emergency responders, and disaster workers with little mental health training. The program aims to increase participants' abilities to recognize and address benign crisis reactions, differentiate more severe reactions, practice self-care, and facilitate access to further support when needed. Research shows that disasters can cause impairment in 25-41% of survivors and increase demand for mental health services by 15-25% of affected populations. PFA and triage may be crucial in the hours after sudden, devastating events when many people feel stunned or dazed.

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Debbie Wong
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
90 views

Psychological First Aid - Lecture 1: Terms and Concepts

This document introduces psychological first aid (PFA) as a compassionate and supportive intervention for mitigating acute distress following disasters or emergencies. PFA is designed for public health personnel, educators, emergency responders, and disaster workers with little mental health training. The program aims to increase participants' abilities to recognize and address benign crisis reactions, differentiate more severe reactions, practice self-care, and facilitate access to further support when needed. Research shows that disasters can cause impairment in 25-41% of survivors and increase demand for mental health services by 15-25% of affected populations. PFA and triage may be crucial in the hours after sudden, devastating events when many people feel stunned or dazed.

Uploaded by

Debbie Wong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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,:S
CE R FOR
PUBLICHEALTH
~ PREPARED
ESS

G,eorge S . .Everly , Jr , PhD , ABPP

The Johns Hopkins Public Health Preparedness Programs


The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• This p.rogram is intended to introduce p.articipa ·nts to the fundamentals of ''psychological
first aid.,

• Psychological first aid (PFA)· may be defined as a compassionate and supportive


presence des igned to mitigate acute distress and assess the n·eed for continued mental
health care (Everly and Flynn , 2005)

• This program is designed s.pecifically for:


• Public health personnel
• Public hea,Jtheducators
• Emergency responders
• Disaster workers with little or no fo.rmal mental health training

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• Participants will increase their abilities to:
• Discuss key concepts related to PFA
• L'isten reflectively
• Differentiate benign , non-incapacitating psychological/ behavioral crisis reactions from
more severe , potentially incapacitating, crisis reactions
• Prioritize (triage) psychological / behavioral crisis reactions
• Mitigate acute distress and dysfunction , as appropriate
• Recognize when to fa-cilitate access to further menta'I health support
• Practice self-care

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f CE rs
_ ....R FOR
.....
PUBLICHEALTH
~ PREPARED
ESS

The material in this video Is subject to tho copy,ight of the O't'Vners


of the material and is being provirled for educational purposes under
rules of fair use for regrsteredstudents In this ooorse only No additional copies of the oopyrlghrodwork may be made or distr:buted
The need ...

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• According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the
frequency of disasters caused by natural hazards has been increasing

• Current global destabilization and armed conflicts will likely cause the number of
disasters to dramatically increase in the second decade of th-e millennium

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• When considering the mental health aspects of public health emergencies and disasters ,
we are most concerned with the phenomenon of surge

• Experiences in the United States and other countries has shown repeatedly that following
disasters , particularly those occasioned by violence . there is a surge of dem ,and for
health services including me.ntal health

Sources : Galea et al (2005) The epidem iology of post-traumabc stress disorder after disasters EpJdemJol Rev, 27.78 91 : Hambl~ . J (2004) What are the traumatic stress effects of
terrorism? vlW\v ncptsa org1factsfdisastcrs l fs_torrorism hrml; la~ng, (2005) Psycholog cal contagion offoct In G Everly, Jr & C Parker, eds. ,Acntal Hoa/th Aspects of Disasters, 5 t- 58 7
• In an analysis of over 160 empirical studies conducted by Norris and her colleagues
(2006) , 41 °/oof studies revealed evidence of severe t,o very severe impairment
(interference with functioning) among a significant number of ·disaster .survivo ·rs

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• Translating those statistics to actual deman •d . the increased demand for mental health
services may range from 15-25% of the population directly affected

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'' ... in hours after a disaster , at least 25 % of the population maybe stunned
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I and dazed , apathetic and wandering-suffering from the disaster
I
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I syndrome · especially if im,pact has been sudden and totally devastating ... At
this point , psychological first aid: and triage ... are necessary ·.''

-Beverley Raphael (1986)


When Disaster Strikes

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The need to enhance surge capacity is self-evident;
the o:nly question is: how?

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1. Psy·chological crisis intervention can incr.ease the perceptions of personal resilience and
preparedness , as well as enhance community resilience
• OL McCabe ; N Semon; JM Lating ; GS Everly , Jr ; et al. (In press). Developing an
academic-gover :nment-faith partnership to build disaster ment .al health preparedness
and community resilience: program description and lessons learned. Public Health
Reports.
• GS Everly , Jr ; OL McCabe , N Semon , CB Thompson , J Links. (2014). The
development of a model of psychological first aid (PFA) for non-mental health trained
public health personnel: the Johns Hopkins RAPID- ·PFA . Journal of Public Health
Manage ·ment and Practice (online).

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2. Psyc hological crisis intervention is superior to mu:ltisession psychotherapy post disaster ,
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for redu-cing acute distress

3. Psychotherapy post disaster may delay or complicate re-covery


• Bos ,carino -, Adams , and Fi.gley, 2011 , J Nerv Ment Dis

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• If correct , collectively these data suggest that traditio ,nal mental health interventions may
be problematic when applied in disaster settings

• Furthermore , there may be valu·e in implementing more crisis oriented interventions

• But this is not a new idea ...

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