Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
Critical incident stress debriefing is a process which provides help and support for people who have been through a traumatic incident. These incidents can produce extreme emotional stress, and may prevent people from functioning normally after the incident is over.
The goal with critical incident stress debriefing is to help people undergo trauma to return to their normal lives as soon as possible.
What is a Critical Incident?
A Critical Incident is defined as an event which is extraordinary in nature with the expectation of producing significant reactions on the parts of victims or those either directly or indirectly impacted.
Typical Examples include:
Line of Duty Deaths (LODD)
Serious Line of Duty injuries
Suicide
Robberies
Auto Accidents
Severe or Prolonged Illness
Sudden Death
Natural Disasters
Any event that has significant emotional power to overwhelm usual coping mechanisms.
Symptoms of Critical Incident Stress
Critical incidents produce characteristics sets of phychological and physiological reactions or symptoms in all people. Typical symptoms of Critical Incident Stress include:
Restlessness
Irritability
Excessive Fatigue
Sleep Disturbance
Anxiety
Startle Reactions
Depression
Moodiness
Muscle Tremors
Difficulties Concentrating
Nightmares
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Suspiciousness
Why DRW-CISD Program™?
The DRW-Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Model is enhanced with Emotional Intelligence tools and provides trauma victims with a way of talking through and dealing with the trauma they have encountered in a safe and confidential environment.
Objectives
To provide means for emotional expression by individuals involved in a stressful event
To decrease distressing symptoms and prevent onset of PSTD
To assimilate the traumatic experience
To regain/increase capacity for self-control
To reduce the focus of the event in the daily lives of survivors
To provide emotional support
To dispel myths and reduce self-blame
To restore adaptive levels of trust
To restore capacity for emotional response
To alleviate disabling fears and anxieties caused by the trauma
To provide structure and stability
To prepare for physical and psychological symptoms that may follow
To inform individuals about stress, stress reactions and survival methods
To promote appropriate and realistic problem solving
Research on the effectiveness of applied critical incident debriefing techniques has demonstrated that individuals who are provided CISD within a 24-72 hour period after the initial critical incident experience less short-term and long-term crisis reactions or psychological trauma.
Information
The goal of debriefing is to help normal people deal with abnormal situations.