Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Paper

I choose to do this paper on Critical Incident Stress Debriefing or CISD. The reason I went with CISD was that it is something that will give me information that could make me be able to help in a very wide variety of situations from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. I will be going into the helping field working with those suffering from addiction; there are many different stress-inducing situations that cause people to turn to drugs and alcohol. If you just look at the addiction rate when it comes to veterans with PTSD, those numbers are staggering. I feel that if I can get in there and help these people before it gets to that point of mental health problems it would be so much better for them, as well as our society as a whole.

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Subsequently, emergency service workers, rescue workers, police and fire personnel as well as the trauma survivors themselves who do not receive CISD, are at greater risk of developing many of the clinical symptoms (Mitchell, 1988).

So as previously mentioned there are 7 phases of CISD, now let’s look at the 7 phases and what they each mean.

The first is the introduction phase. In this phase of a CISD is when the person in charge or group leader introduces the CISD process and approach, encourages participation by the group, and sets the ground rules by which the process will happen. Generally this will include guidelines that involve issues that go along with any group such as confidentiality and attendance, as well as pointing out that they will not be forced to participate in discussions and the establishment of a supportive, noncritical atmosphere.

The second is the fact phase. During this phase, the members of the group are asked to give a little description of their role during the incident from their own perspective as well as some facts regarding what happened. It is not uncommon for a few individuals to provide core facts while others fill in the missing

The controversy all seemed to start in a 1996 issue of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) magazine. The Senior Editor Lauren Ostrow contended CISD had become a business venture and studies failed to find positive outcomes. She suggested, “In the end, EMS may want to examine the all-American notion that we should always feel good, that stress is bad, and that we have to take corrective action to resolve every negative reaction to stress, even if it is normal.” So this is where Psychological First Aid (PFA) comes in. PFA is a set of interventions that is proven to improve outcomes, lessen complications, and shorten recovery times for both the general public and emergency service personnel. There are three objectives of PFA that correlate with the building blocks of mental and emotional strength: (1) recreate a sense of safety, (2) establish meaningful social connections, and (3) reestablish a sense of efficacy. (McEvoy, M. 2005) These three objectives fill in the basic need within all of us to feel safe and secure, and that is where I feel CISD is lacking. I think many people who have just been through an emotional experience, let alone a traumatic experience, will clam up at the thought of talking about it with a complete stranger. The difference that I see between CISD and PFA is that CISD is about talking through it with