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SUBCOURSE MD0549 PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES: You, as a medical specialist,
will find that each patient or casualty is a unique individual with his own
specific problems and his own ways of attempting to deal with those
problems. The lessons present psychosocial issues that will involve you
directly. Being able to cope with these issues and to provide medical care
are initial steps in your career.
FM 4-02-51 Combat and Operational Stress Control In our own Soldiers
and in the enemy combatants, control of stress is often the decisive
difference between victory and defeat across the operational continuum.
Battles and wars are won more by controlling the will to fight than by
killing all of the enemy combatants. Uncontrolled combat stress causes
erratic or harmful behaviors, impair mission performance, and may result in
disaster and defeat of COSC preventive measures. The COSC preventive
measures are aimed at minimizing maladaptive stress reactions while
promoting adaptive stress reactions, such as loyalty, selflessness, and acts
of bravery. This manual provides doctrinal guidance for controlling
excessive stress in combat and other operational environments. It identifies
command and leadership responsibilities for COSC. It identifies COSC
consultation, training, and education assistance available for units. This
manual provides definitive guidance to BH personnel and CSC units for their
COSC mission and for management of COSR and other behavioral disordered
patients (BDPs). It identifies the requirements for COSC consultation,
planning, coordination, rehearsal, and implementation of the COSC plan
contained in the FHP annex of the operation order (OPORD).
Mental Health Emergencies Policies and Procedures
This is a policy guideline for UW-Whitewater University, but contains some
good information on identifying and reacting to psychologically aberrant
behavior.
Coping with Mental Health Crises and Emergencies
Province of British Columbia, Canada, fact sheet with some info on overdoses
and "How Families Can Help in a Mental Health Emergency." See Also:
Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia;
Anxiety Disorders;
Bipolar Disorder;
Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Mental Health Issue;
Children, Youth and Mental Disorders;
Mental Disorders and Substance Use Problems;
Depression;
Eating Disorders and Body Image;
Mental Disorders, Addictions and the Question of Violence;
Mental Disorders and Addictions in the Workplace;
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder;
Panic Disorder;
Personality Disorders;
Postpartum Depression;
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder;
Schizophrenia;
Seasonal Affective Disorder;
Stress;
Suicide: Following the Warning Signs;
What Family and Friends can do to Help; and
What are Mental Disorders?
Use Of Police And 911 For Mental Health And Psychological
Emergencies Revised:
By Michael G. Conner, Psy.D, Clinical, Medical & Family Psychologist: Not
knowing when and how to involve 911, police and EMS is the main reason
things don't go well. Familiarize yourself with how these community
services work. The role of police and 911 when dealing with
mental health and psychological emergencies is an extremely important
public service. Few people appreciate how difficult and important the
job is until they need help. Television reenactments and docudramas
portray these jobs with an element of truth, but these jobs are far more
complex and involve issues that the media never encounter.
Unfortunately, the public's expectations and assumptions are invariably
mistaken about what can or will happen when 911, Police or EMS are called
upon to deal with mental health and psychological emergencies.
Understanding what happens, and what can happen, may help if you ever
anticipate the need to call 911, the police or EMS for assistance.
Emotional Rescue: Managing Meltdowns
Psychological emergencies involving drugs -- hallucinogens, stimulants, and
marijuana, primarily, but any other drug (or even no drug at all) will do in
a pinch -- probably account for more crisis problems than physical overdoses
and toxic reactions put together. Although drug-induced psychological crises
are rarely fatal, they can be unpleasant -- and result in toxic memories and
fears that can last a lifetime. They do, that is, unless an experienced
person is around to help someone on the business end of a drug freak-out or
other personal crisis to re-contextualize his or her fears and re-channel
the experience...
Fun-to-read and factual,
Do It Now pamphlets clarify the issues and point out options in the
real-world choices that confront us all. For general audiences (high school
& up), except where noted.
Suicide Reference Library
The articles in the Suicide Reference Library are sorted into four
sections. Suicide: Articles specifically about suicide: Theories, facts and
information. Awareness: Articles about issues peripheral to suicide,
including religious, social, historical, and social. Support: Articles
offering help specifically for those who mourn the death of someone by
suicide, and for those who reach out to help them. Education: Articles that
discuss a variety of topics related to preventing and understanding suicide.
Psychological Intervention For Unresolved Grief
By Edward J. Callahan, Ph.D.: The current
paper grows out of treating unresolved grief in primary care, but treatment
would be similar across settings. Treatment of unresolved grief reflects how
grief is conceptualized. The intervention described here stems from a
behavioral conceptualization of grieving. [Now only available in PDF
format as part of Newsletter - see page 11]
"Early
Psychological Intervention (EPI) Points of Consensus Document" NOVA
is pleased to announce that we, along with our primary partners who provide
Early Psychological Intervention (EPI) and spiritual care for victims and
survivors of crimes and disaster, have jointly released
an historic document (PDF) outlining our points of understanding and
agreement. This document came into existence as a joint effort supported by
the Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee of the National Voluntary
Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).
How to Get Help After A Victimization
It can be helpful to take
proactive steps in an attempt to prevent crime and to be better prepared for
the effects of crime, should one occur. This information provides a brief
introduction to a fairly complex subject, so it does not address all the
factors that are relevant to the needs of all crime victims. Hopefully, the
information will help you to use creative and effective methods to address
the victimization.
COPING WITH DISASTERS
[PDF] This manual
outlines a variety of psychosocial interventions aimed at helping people
cope with the emotional effects of disasters. It is intended for use by
mental health workers, primary medical care workers, disaster relief
workers, teachers, religious leaders, community leaders, and by governmental
and organizational officials concerned with responses to disasters. It is
intended as a field guide or as a basis for brief or extended training
programs in how to respond to the psychosocial effects of disasters.
Mental Health Response to Mass Violence and
Terrorism: A Training Manual.:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS Pub. No. SMA 3959.
Rockville, MD: Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration, 2004. This manual contains "the basics" of
what mental health providers, crime victim assistance professionals, and
faith-based counselors need to know to provide appropriate mental health
support following incidents involving criminal mass victimization. The
manual is primarily for mental health professionals, yet all service
providers will find much of the material to be useful. Program planners,
administrators, and clinical supervisors must acquaint themselves with the
information in this manual to develop mental health response programs,
respond to emerging issues and needs, and address clinical challenges.
Psychological support and treatment, crime victims' services, and spiritual
guidance and support are essential components of a crisis response. Mass
acts of violence and terrorism commonly have widespread community impacts as
well. Mental health intervention targets affected individuals and families
as well as the larger community.
Disaster/Trauma A series of pamphlets, fact sheets, brochures, booklets and articles from
the US Dept. of Health & Human Services. See also:
Mental Illnesses/Disorders;
Prevention;
Professional Resources;
Psychiatry and Psychology;
Rural Mental Health;
Stress and Anxiety;
Treatment and Recovery;
Women and Men;
Women, Violence and Trauma;
Work/Community Support; and
Youth Violence Prevention
State Resource Guides Lists contact information for mental health
agencies and advocacy organizations by State.
"Stress" Chapter 21 from the NOLS
Wilderness Med. Book - Contains vital info on psychology of survival for
both the rescuer and survivor. Includes recognition, reactions, treatment &
management. Must read for any group leader!!
Post Disaster Stress Management
(Report following Hurricane Keith in Belize, SA) The objectives were:
To provide effective counseling for individuals affected directly or
indirectly by a disaster in order to prevent or alleviate any psychological
problems; To be psychologically equipped to cope in the healthiest way
possible; To conduct an assessment of the mental health needs of
post-disaster survivors.
Insights Into The Concept Of Stress
The repeated exposure of emergency response personnel to disaster
situations have a potentially deleterious effect on their psychological
well-being, what can greatly affect the overall outcome of such situations,
including the prognosis of the primary victims of the event. This workbook
and its companion, Stress Management in Disasters, were designed to provide
the basic training material for persons who will be providing such a
service.
Stress Management In Disasters Along with its companion workbook, Insights
into the Concept of Stress, this book was designed to provide the basic
training material for persons who will be providing assistance in disaster
situations, because they are themselves repeatedly exposed to very stressful
situations.
Disaster Psychiatry: Principles and Practice.
Increasingly, trauma and disasters are part of everyday life. Psychiatrists
can play an important role in assisting individuals and communities to
recover. They bring a unique set of skills and experiences that can be
invaluable in minimizing morbidity and facilitating recovery. This paper
discusses psychological, physiological, behavioral, and community responses
encountered in the aftermath of a disaster. A preventive medicine model of
understanding disaster response is discussed in which the psychiatrist
delineates traumatic stressors and high-risk populations. The importance of
psychiatric participation in disaster preparedness is emphasized.
Psychiatric interventions targeted at the various longitudinal phases of
disaster response are reviewed.
Post-traumatic Therapy. Originally appeared in
Psychotherapy, 28 (1), 5-15. [Spring 1991] Republished first in Wilson &
Raphael's (1993) International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes
and later in Everly & Lating's (1995) Psychotraumatology. This
clinical article gives a detailed description of Frank Ochberg's approach
towards therapy with trauma patients, and should be helpful to any
clinicians working with this population. Individual sections discuss
fundamental principles and techniques of posttraumatic therapy, including:
education, discussing psychobiology, promoting holistic health, and
psychotherapy. Two Appendices list proposed diagnostic criteria and symptoms
for victimization disorder as a subcategory of traumatic stress.
Introduction to Survival Strategies. This is a version of an important
chapter from Valent's 1998 book, From Survival to Fulfillment: A
framework for the life-trauma dialectic, published in Philadelphia by
Bruner/Mazel. Paul Valent describes eight survival strategies in response to
trauma -- "stress responses which include specific adaptive and maladaptive,
biological, psychological and social constituents". Valent's survival
strategies evolved as discrete phylogenetic templates to aid survival
following specific stressors. Together, survival strategies offer a
framework for categorizing classes of traumatic responses and events beyond
PTSD's typical fight or flight responses. When trauma responses are
unsuccessful, this framework may also help clarify differences important in
treatment.
Questions to Help Children Talk About a Disaster
provides examples of "open-ended" questions to encourage children to talk
about their feelings and experiences following a disaster.
When Talking Doesn't Help: Other Ways to Help Children
Express Their Feelings Following a Disaster
provides ideas for helping children express themselves in ways other than
talking to help them through the recovery process following a disaster.
The Role of Culture in Helping Children Recover from a
Disaster offers words of advice and
guidance for teachers helping children from diverse cultural and ethnic
backgrounds through the recovery process following a disaster.
How To Help Children After a Disaster
offers tips to parents on how to talk to children about the terrorist
events.
After a Disaster: What Teens Can Do
provides information for teens to help understand some of their reactions as
well as others, to the terrorist events. Suggestions are also provided to
help ease the unfamiliar feelings related to the event.
After a Disaster: A guide for Parents and Teachers
explains how preschool age, early childhood, and adolescent children may
respond to the terrorist events. The link is intended for parents and
teachers to be informed, recognize problems, and respond appropriately to
the needs of children.
Recognizing and Reducing Anxiety in Times of Crisis
provides tips for dealing with stress from traumatic events.
A Guide for Older Adults
provides suggestions for older adults attempting to understand the recent
terrorist events.
Mental Health Aspects of Terrorism
describes typical reactions to terrorist events and provides suggestions for
coping and helping others.
Disaster Counseling
provides suggestions for disaster counselors on establishing rapport and
active listening.
Self-Care Tips for Dealing with Stress
covers things to remember when trying to understand disaster events, signs
that adults need stress management assistance, and ways to ease stress.
How to Deal With Grief
Age-specific Interventions at Home for Children in
Trauma: From Preschool to Adolescence
suggests activities arranged by age group to help children share recovery
feelings and experiences at home. Includes activities for preschoolers,
elementary age children, and pre-adolescents and adolescents.
The Long-term Impact of a Traumatic Event: What to
Expect in Your Personal, Family, Work, and Financial Life
cites examples of personal uncertainties, family relationship changes, work
disruptions, and financial worries that may contribute to the long-term
impact of a traumatic event. Also includes tips on how to survive the road
to recovery from a traumatic event.
Anniversary Reactions to a Traumatic Event: The
Recovery Process Continues describes
common anniversary reactions among victims of traumatic events and explains
how these reactions can be a significant part of the recovery process.
DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY:
A HANDBOOK FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS by Diane Myers, R.N., M.S.N.
Monterey, California
Helping Children Cope with Disaster (FEMA) Disaster may strike
quickly and without warning. These events can be frightening for adults, but
they are traumatic for children if they don't know what to do.
Download as
pdf from SSRsi site.
FEMA FOR KIDS: RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS -- How to Talk
to Children about the Threat of Biological Warfare or Terrorist Attack
While FEMA advocates discussing the threat of natural disaster with
children, and emphasizing what actions they should take to protect
themselves - getting under heavy furniture in the event of an earthquake,
for example - it is often much more difficult to talk about the threat of
biological warfare or terrorist attack. The following information is
provided by Dr. Lennis G. Echterling; from the Department of Psychology at
James Madison University, in Virginia.
Stress and the war on terrorism
War-related emotional stress can be as debilitating as chronic illness, but
it can get better over time.
Feeling secure in an uncertain world Some events are out of your
control, but you can restore a sense of security by actively bringing
order to your life.
Coping with uncertainty: A 4-step plan Use this four-step
approach to plan your positive response to uncertainty and fear about
safety.
After a loss or tragedy: Coping with the reminders When you've
lost a loved one, reminders are everywhere, from anniversaries to special
songs and places. Here's how to find new meaning in them.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Experiencing a traumatic event may trigger anxiety and recurrent memories of
the event. But medications and behavior therapies can ease symptoms of
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Depression Learn the
signs and symptoms, causes, treatments and other important facts about
depression.
Coping with grief: Editor’s note
No quick fixes. No short cuts. Just suggestions for making the grieving
process less bumpy.
10 tips for better sleep
Stress. Noise. Fear of the unknown. Many things in our society interfere
with the sleep that we so desperately need.
Helping kids through crisis situations
Natural disasters. Threats of war. Senseless acts of terrorism. Life's full
of tragedies. Here, a Mayo Clinic pediatrician gives advice on how to help
kids deal with crisis situations.
Exercise Helps Keep Your Psyche Fit
-- Research shows exercise to be a viable, cost-effective treatment for
depression and may help in the treatment of other mental disorders.
Stress Management Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies
experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has
physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative
feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it
can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative
influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and
depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches,
upset stomach, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease,
and stroke. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job
promotion, or a new relationship, we experience stress as we readjust our
lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or
hinder us depending on how we react to it.
Stress Pamplet
-- By David Baldwin, PhD., includes hints on dealing with others who are
stressed out.
Rodney And Cathy's Joke List
-- Sign up. It's free. Most jokes are of the clean variety. "G" or "PG," but
the occasional "R" rated joke restricts subscriptions to adults only. Get
some laughs and share with your friends. Good jokes -- even bad jokes --
from good friends have helped lighten many a tough time.
Jokes-For-All.Com -- Ultimate Jokes Directory. One of the biggest
and most comprehensive jokes sites. They are sorted into categories, so you
can easily fill the most pressing of humor needs.
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