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Debriefing and CISM
Critical incident stress management (CISM) refers to an adaptive technique used in the healing process of immediate and identifiable ailments. CISM has been used during pre-incident preparedness up to cases of acute crises for the purposes of putting up crisis follow up. CISM aims at enabling trauma candidates to return to work and carry on their daily routines in due course without the possibly of undergoing post-traumatic stress disorder. The appropriate application of debriefing in CISM is approximately within seventy two hours after the occurrence of a given incident.
Debriefings are applied as interventions for individuals who been directly involved in an incident but whose application has been stretched to even those not directly involved (Wesselink, 2011). The debriefing process involves providing the individual or group with the critical opportunity of expressing his or her experience and express how the incident affected him. The debriefing process inspires coping mechanisms, recognize the persons standing at risk and raise awareness on the individual on the assistive service available to them in the community (Wesselink, 2011).
The person undertaking the debriefing process should exercise caution during the debriefing process since it could lead to adverse effects on the affected individuals. Caution ought to be exercised in the employment of individualized of non-standardized psychological crisis intervention techniques in place with primary medial patients who are under minimal temporal distance in relation to their medical stressors or the exercise of such techniques with primary medical patients who are suffering from medical distress (Harris, Baloglu, & Stacks, 2002).
The use of such techniques on these cases is highly inappropriate as the timing of such interventions tends to be misconstrued, in addition to the individual’s crisis event or trauma. Debriefing as an intervention is best suited with acute situational crisis responses. The individual responsible ought to realize the limits of the debriefing process. Debriefing as an intervention has been proven not to be suitable for individuals suffering from acute medical distress. This is mainly because the process does not necessarily serve as a substitute for financial counseling, psychological rehabilitation, analgesia, reconstructive surgery or physical rehabilitation.
The efficacy of the debriefing process is judged by comparing individuals who undergo the intervention after a given crisis and those who either fail to take it or those who undergo alternative intervention processes. My recommendation is the halt in the use of debriefing since it is not clinically efficacious (Hobbs, Mayou, Harrison, & Worlock, 1996). Although those supporting the practice argue based on its empirical validity, very diminutive research has been undertaken that conclusively indicate its efficacy as a treatment. The only aspect that renders its adverse practice is based on its legality. Since the process is legally acceptable, many institutions and organizations including the law enforcement agency have incorporated the practice into their assistive programs in alleviating trauma on their personnel (Hobbs, Mayou, Harrison, & Worlock, 1996).
Research indicates that the intervention may cause adverse implications on an individual. The debriefing process may end up altering the individual’s usual social support system. The individual may cease from seeking professional medical support as many deem the debriefing as having helped enough. The program ought to be halted for the time being until proper research is undertaken leading to its improvement such that there are no instances where the program results into the creation of adverse effects on individuals.
References
Harris, M.B., Baloglu, M., Stacks, J.R. (2002). Mental health of trauma-exposed firefighters and critical incident stress debriefing. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 7, 223-238.
Hobbs, M., Mayou, R., Harrison, B., & Worlock, P. (1996). A randomized controlled trial of psychological debriefing for victims of road traffic accidents. British Medical Journal, 313, 1438-1439.
Wesselink, N. (2011). Personal interview.
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