Another Organization Sacks CISD

[Guest guest]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has just issued their document entitled,

" Mental Health in Emergencies: Mental and Social Aspects of Health of

Populations Exposed to Extreme Stressors. " In this document, WHO joins with the

National Institute of Mental Health (Departments of Justice, Defense, Veterans

Affairs, and Health and Human Services), NATO, and the British Health Service as

listing debriefing (CISD/CISM) as a contraindicated procedure:

The document states,

" Assuming the availability of volunteer/nonvolunteer community workers,

organize outreach and nonintrusive emotional support in the community by

providing , when necessary, aforementioned " psychological first aid. " Because

of possible negative effects, it is not advised to organize forms of

single-session psychological debriefing that push persons to share their

personal experiences beyond what they would naturally share. "

The document is available on-line at:

http://www5.who.int/mental_health/download.cfm?id=0000000640

Please consider when looking at CISM/CISD for your service