Transcript CERT Unit 7 - Lamorinda CERT

Lamorinda CERT Program
Unit 7 – Disaster Psychology
Released: 3 October 2016
Community Emergency Response Team
 Personal safety is ALWAYS the number one priority
 Work as a team
 Wear personal protective equipment…gloves, helmet,
goggles, N95 mask and boots
 The CERT goal is to do the
Greatest Good for the Greatest Number
 Hope for the best but plan for the worst
Visual 7.1
Unit Objectives
 Describe the disaster and post-disaster
emotional environment for victims and
rescuers
 Describe the steps that rescuers can take to
relieve their own stress and that of disaster
survivors
Visual 7.2
Vicarious Trauma
The process of changes in the rescuer
resulting from empathic engagement
with survivors
Visual 7.3
Taking Care of Your Team
Visual 7.4
Team Well-Being
CERT team leaders or available professionals should:
 Provide pre-disaster stress management training
 Brief personnel before response
 Emphasize teamwork
 Encourage breaks
 Provide for proper nutrition
 Rotate team members
 Phase out workers gradually
 Conduct a brief discussion
Visual 7.5
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
 While this technique is still widely used,
research has revealed that psychological
debriefing does not help trauma survivors,
and it might even hurt them.
Visual 7.6
What Does Work
Due to drastic incidence of PTSD, the VA & DoD:
 Invested in significant scientific research
 Two therapies have evidence-based success:
 Cognitive Processing Therapy—similar to CBT
 Prolonged Exposure Therapy—from success
with rape survivors
 While these therapies are directed at PTSD they
can be ultimately made available to professionals
surviving more serious traumas
 PTSD is a disorder of “stuckness”
Visual 7.7
Taking Care of Yourself
Visual 7.8
Take Care of Yourself
 Be aware that disaster-worker trauma /
stress can follow disaster work
 Explain to family member and friends how
they can support you
 Listen
to you when you need to talk
 Understand that you may not want to talk
 Accept help from others
Visual 7.9
Reducing Stress
 Get enough sleep
 Exercise
 Eat a balanced diet
 Balance work, play, and rest
 Allow yourself to receive as well as give
 Remember that your identify is broader than
that of a helper
 Connect with others
 Use spiritual resources
Visual 7.10
Rescuer Psychological Trauma
 You can experience trauma through
 Your
own personal losses
 Working in your neighborhood
 Assisting neighbors, friends,
co-workers who have also been injured
 Not feeling safe and secure
Visual 7.11
Disturbing legacy of rescues: Suicide
 Many cases of First Responder suicide have
been attributed to vicarious trauma in the
months and years following a variety of
disasters.
 Long after September 11th, First Responders
including Firefighters, Law Enforcement, and
EMTs are experiencing trauma.
 In reality, YOU, as a volunteer first responder,
can be subject to vicarious trauma as well.
Visual 7.12
Possible Psychological Symptoms
 Irritability, anger
 Self-blame, blaming others
 Isolation, withdrawal
 Fear of recurrence
 Feeling stunned, numb, or overwhelmed
 Feeling helpless
 Mood swings
 Sadness, depression, grief
 Denial
Visual 7.13
Risk / Resiliency Markers
 Younger people at greater risk than older
people
 Women greater risk than men
 Volunteers have higher risk
 Veterans of recent wars are more susceptible
than Vietnam and Korea era vets
 Those with previous psychological difficulties
are more at risk
 Lower social support increases risk
Visual 7.14
Possible Physiological Symptoms
 Loss of appetite
 Headaches, chest pain
 Diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea
 Hyperactivity
 Increase in alcohol or drug consumption
 Nightmares
 Chronic Insomnia: Inability to sleep
 Fatigue, low energy
Visual 7.15
Post-traumatic Stress
Visual 7.16
Traumatic Stress
Traumatic stress may affect:
 Cognitive functioning--Thinking
 Physical health--Behaving
 Interpersonal reactions--Feelings
Visual 7.17
Traumatic Crisis
An event in which people experience or witness:
 Actual or potential death or injury to self or others
 Serious injury
 Actual or threatened sexual violence
 Destruction of homes, neighborhood, or valued
possessions
 Loss of contact with family / close relationships
Visual 7.18
Phases of a Crisis
 Impact

May show no emotion
 Inventory


Assess damage
Locate other survivors
 Rescue

Survivors tend to cooperate with rescuers
 Recovery

Visual 7.19
Survivors may show hostility toward rescuers
Mediating Factors
 Prior experience with a similar event
 Intensity of disruption
 Individual feelings about event
 Emotional strength of individual
 Length of time since event
Visual 7.20
The Road to Recovery
Those survivors who could find something good that came out of the
experience soon after it happened –
"I realized how much I loved my family," for example, or
"I decided that life was too short not to follow my dreams"
– had made a better recovery at the time of the follow-up interview.
Visual 7.21
Taking Care of a Victim
Visual 7.22
Stabilizing an Individual
 Assess the survivors for injury and shock
 Get uninjured people involved in helping
 Provide support by:
 Listening
 Empathizing
 Help survivors connect with natural support
systems
Visual 7.23
How to Be an Empathetic Listener
 Put yourself in the speaker’s shoes
 Listen for meaning, not just words
 Pay attention to nonverbal
communication
 Paraphrase the speaker in their own
words to show that you heard him / her.
 Practice compassion
Visual 7.24
Avoid Saying . . .
 “I understand.”
 “Don’t feel bad.”
 “You’re strong / You’ll get through this.”
 “Don’t cry.”
 “It’s God’s will.”
 “It could be worse” or “At least you still have . .
.
 What you really must do…
(Discounts person, not understood, more alone)
Visual 7.25
Can Say . . .
 “These are normal reactions to a disaster.”
 “It’s understandable you could feel this way.”
 “As you connect with others who have been
through this, you’ll find that they may have
experienced the same things you are feeling.”
 “You can’t change what happened but you can
change what you do with this experience.”
 “Things may never be the same, but you may find
some things from this experience that can help
you help others.”
Visual 7.26
Managing the Death Scene
 Move the body to temporary morgue
 Cover the body; treat it with respect
 Have one family member look at the
body and decide if the rest of the family
should see it
 Allow family members to hold or spend
time with the deceased
 Let the family grieve
Visual 7.27
Informing Family of a Death
 Separate the family members from others
in a quiet, private place
 Have the person(s) sit down, if possible
 Make eye contact and use a calm, kind
voice
 Use the following words to tell the family
members about the death: “I’m sorry, but
your family member has died. I am so
sorry.”
Visual 7.28
Unit Summary
 Disaster psychology
 Caring for yourself, your buddy and
survivors
Visual 7.29
Glossary
 OIF - Operation Iraqi Freedom March 2003 





September 2011
OND - Operation New Dawn troop withdrawal
September 2011 - December 2011
OEF - Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan
October 2001 - ongoing
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
CISD - Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
VA - Veteran's Administration
DoD - Department of Defense
Visual 7.30
Glossary
 CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive
processes and contents through a number of goal-oriented, explicit
systematic procedures. CBT is thought to be effective for the treatment of a
variety of conditions, including mood, anxiety, personality, eating, substance
abuse, tic, and psychotic disorders
 CPT - Cognitive Processing Therapy

The theory behind CPT conceptualizes PTSD as a disorder of "nonrecovery" in which erroneous beliefs about the causes and consequences of
traumatic events produce strong negative emotions and prevent accurate
processing of the trauma memory and natural emotions emanating from the
event.
 PE - Prolonged Exposure Therapy

Prolonged exposure therapy (PE) is a form of behavior therapy and cognitive
behavioral therapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder,
characterized by re-experiencing the traumatic event through remembering it
and engaging with, rather than avoiding, reminders of the trauma (triggers).
Sometimes, this technique is referred to as flooding (psychology).
Visual 7.31