Leadership in Stress Management and Debriefings
Why is it important to distinguish between CISM and psychotherapy?
CISM and psychotherapy have completely different aims. While it is true that persons who survive critical incidents may have personal issues that would benefit from psychotherapy, the ultimate aim of CISM is to prevent, rather than treat psychological issues related to trauma. Rather than an individualized program of indefinite duration like psychotherapy, CISM provides specific, targeted therapy to improve the ability of all persons (regardless of their original state of psychological health) to cope with s crisis. CISM focuses on the 'here and now,' is active and directive, and is of a relatively short duration while psychotherapy has no specific end date (and not necessarily a specific goal) and is less directive in nature. CISM is designed to occur relatively soon after the event,...
What steps can an organization follow in order to reduce the potential for critical incident stress and post-traumatic stress disorder with regards to its employees?
Post-crisis mitigation strategies are critical to deal with CISM. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is a specific technique used to 'debrief' persons involved in the event. Trained mediators help all persons involved discuss their thoughts and feelings. These debriefings are designed to reduce the likelihood of PTSD and also identify the most stressed members of the response team who may need additional care. Personnel can learn how to approach the incident in a more rational fashion and return their cognitive processes to normal. Talking with other people can enable the participants to realize that they are not alone in…
