Disaster Mental Health Services: A Primer for Practitioners

by Diane Myers, David Wee

Overview

Disaster mental health is a growing field of practice designed to help victims and relief workers learn to effectively cope with the extreme stresses they will face in the aftermath of a disaster. The goal of disaster mental health is to prevent the development of long-term, negative psychological consequences, such as PTSD. This book assists clinicians and traumatologists in "making the bridge" between their clinical knowledge and skills and the unique, complex, chaotic, and highly political field of disaster. It combines information from a vast reservoir of prior research and literature with the authors' practical and pragmatic experience in providing disaster mental health services in a wide variety of disasters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583910641
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/27/2004
Series:	Psychosocial Stress Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Diane Myers, R.N., M.S.N., has been in private practice for over twenty years, specializing in Post-Traumatic Stress Assessment and Treatment, Crisis Intervention, Consultation and Training in Disaster Mental Health, Critical Incident Stress, and Traumatic Stress. Her teaching experience includes psychiatric nursing at Yale University, and nursing and community health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

Table of Contents

Part I: Disaster Concepts and Roles. Disasters and Human Reactions. The Role of Mental Health Professionals in Disaster. Selection, Training, and Preparation of Disaster Mental Health Workers. Part II: Disaster Mental Health Services, Programs, and Workers. Disaster Mental Health Programs and Models of Actions. Stress Management and Prevention of Compassion Fatigue for Psychotraumatologists During Disaster. Psychological Debriefing in Large-scale Disasters. Support Groups in Disaster Mental Health Programs. Part III: Disaster Mental Health Services in the Millennium. Case Example - The Oklahoma City Bombing. Trauma Therapies. Implications for Disaster Mental Health Services in the Millennium.

Editorial Reviews

"Both authors bring an extraordinary wealth of experience to this volume, and it shows. The text is grounded in practical science, reasonable interpretations of theoretical and scientific perspectives, and then expands to practical, practitioner-oriented guidelines and recommendations. Simply said, this is without a doubt the best book currently available on the topic of disaster mental health. It should be mandatory reading for students as well as practitioners." — George S. Everly, Jr., Ph.D., author, A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response

From the Publisher