tm
Learning From The Past and Planning For The Future
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT October 25, 2002 "I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention." - Diane Sawyer
Short Subjects
LINKS Mental Health Moment Online
CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS:
Basic and Advanced Critical Incident Stress Management Workshops
November 22-23, 2002
Holiday Inn
Casper, WY
Co-sponsored by:
Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health InstituteAnd Snowy Range A.S.I.S.T. CISM Team14 CEUs each
"Religious Aspects of Domestic Violence" November 24, 2002
Holiday Inn
Casper, WY
co-sponsored by:
Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health InstituteAnd The Governor's Domestic Violence Elimination (DoVE) Council4 CEUs
The Australasian Critical Incident
Stress Association Conference
The Right Response in the
21st Century
Location: Carlton Crest Hotel
Melbourne Australia
Friday October 3, 2003 thru
Sunday October 5, 2003
For further information
please contact the conference organisers
ammp@optushome.com.au3rd Ibero-American Congress on
Clinical and Health Psychology
November 20 - 23, 2002
Location: Caracas, VENEZUELA
Contact: Zuleyma Perez
Alcabala a Puente Anauco
Edificio Puente Anauco Piso # 2
Apartamento # 27
La Candelaria, Caracas (Venezuela)
Tel./Fax: (+58) 212-5713060
Email: apicsavenezuela@cantv.net
apicsa@attglobal.net
2002 BERLIN CONFERENCE ON
THE HUMAN DIMENSIONS
OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
December 6 - 7, 2002
Location: Berlin, GERMANY
Contact: Frank Biermann, Chair
DVPW Environmental Policy and
Global Change Section
biermann@pik-potsdam.de or
Sabine Campe, Manager
2002 Berlin Conference
sabine.campe@pik-potsdam.de
VIII European Conference
on
Traumatic Stress (ECOTS)
May 22 - 25 2003
Location: Berlin
GERMANY
Contact:
Scientific Secretariat
VIII ECOTS Berlin 2003
c/o Catholic University of
Applied Social Sciences
Koepenicker Allee 39-57
D-10318 Berlin
Tel: +49-30-50 10 10 54
Fax: +49-30-50 10 10 88
E-mail:
trauma-conference@kfb-berlin.de
Deadlines:
Registration
31 October 200227th Congress of the
World Federation for
Mental Health
February 21-26, 2003
Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Contact: ICMS Pty Ltd
(Congress Secretariat)
84 Queensbridge Street
Southbank VIC 3006, Australia
Tel: 61 3 9682 0244
Fax: 61 3 9682 0288
E-mail: wfmh2003@icms.com.au
Annual Conference Society for
Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP)
April 12 - 14, 2003
Location: Orlando, Florida
USA
Contact: lhakel@siop.bgsu.edu
MEDICAL MINUTE: KEEP HALLOWEEN SCARY BUT SAFE
As Halloween creeps up, kids will dream of spooky costumes, jack-o-lanterns and haunted houses. Halloween is one of the most thrilling nights of the year for children. Unfortunately it's also one of the most dangerous. As kids hit the street to trick-or-treat, the potential for unintentional injury rises. In fact, children are four times more likely to be hit by a car on Halloween than any other night of the year. Halloween can indeed be scary, with increases in pedestrian injuries, burns and falls among children. "Children may be distracted by the excitement of the night and the fun of trick-or-treating, and may not take safety to the street. Careless street crossing coupled with drivers' more limited vision at night can make for a deadly mix." said Susan Rzucidlo, M.S.N., R.N., Pediatric Trauma Coordinator for Penn State Children's Hospital. "Many of the risks kids face on Halloween can be avoided if parents discuss important safety precautions with their kids." For more information on how to avoid the perils to children on Halloween, refer to the Medical Minute, brought to you by the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, at http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/medicalminute009.html
KNOW YOUR MEDICATIONS
According to the latest edition of the Medical Minute, a service of Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, prescription medications have had a major impact on people's health in the past half century. Infectious diseases and other conditions that were a major cause of death in the early 20th century are now much less threatening. But with so many new and effective medications comes greater responsibility on the part of the consumer. It's important that patients ask their doctor what to expect with any new prescription. When a doctor prescribes a medication, users should be sure they understand what it is, how long to take it and what possible side effects might occur. Everyone should know the names of their medications and the condition for which they were prescribed. They should check the directions on the label when they fill a prescription to be certain it matches up with what their doctor or pharmacist told them. For the full Medical Minute and others in the series, visit http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/medicalminute008.html
Depression in Asian American Children
One of the major advances of modern day psychiatry has been the recognition that children and adolescents may develop depression and other mood disorders with constellations of symptoms similar to those found in adults. West J Med 176(4) 2002 To read the article online, go to: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/441701M
NEWS ARTICLES ONLINE DC - D.C. area schools on state of alert http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/Story/54832.html
USA - US borders still have no radiation detectors, lawmakers told http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=977073&nav=51s72Q9dBqys
SOUTH CAROLINA - SC decides to dole out anti-radiation pills http://www. thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/4320121.htm
CONNECTICUT - State starts to pass out anti-radiation pills http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=977169&nav=3YeXBr70
TEXAS - Mock Radioactive Accident Staged in Longview http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=975486&nav=7k8I5KjiBpkK
OREGON - Stolen vehicle carrying radioactive gauge http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story. ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/exclude/1034855823231701.xml
International AUSTRALIA - "We will not be broken" - "Australia has been affected very deeply but the Australian spirit has not been broken, the Australian spirit will remain strong and free and open."
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5310098%255E952,00.html
AUSTRALIA - Holidaymakers urged to leave Indonesia.
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5310007%255E952,00.html
AUSTRALIA - Stolen Radioactive gauge a danger http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,5312628%255E1702,00.html
AUSTRALIA - Immigration alert on fake papers http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5317942%255E421,00.html
INDONESIA - Indonesian police question 67 over Bali blast, no suspects http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/22250/1/.html
INDONESIA - US embassy evacuates 350 non-emergency staff from Indonesia http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=13871
INDONESIA - New Indonesian Terrorist Threat http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12146048,00.html
INDONESIA - US warns on Indonesia travel and fears more attacks http://asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1601097
Kazakhstan - Kazakh customs foil attempt to smuggle radioactive waste from Russia to China http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10172002/ap_48739.asp
IRAQ - U.S. special forces getting ready to seize strategic facilities in Iraq http://english.pravda.ru/usa/2002/10/19/38395.html
LEBANON - Al-Qaeda link: fourth Australian arrest http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5317944%255E421,00.html
CANADA - Suspicious package found near Parliament Hill http://ottawa.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=suspackage021017
CHINA - Suspicious package causes Australian embassy closure http://abc.net.au/news/2002/10/item20021017181212_1.htm
************************************
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Domestic Violence affects everyone. It costs billions of dollars each year in hospital bills, lost productivity at work and missed work days. Each year, up to 7.8 million persons (men and women) are physically abused. In 1996, 1,800 persons were killed by their partner. Domestic Violence can happen to anyone, regardless of gender or economic status. It is not always physical. It includes emotional abuse, name calling and isolation. It is all about Power and Control. Learn more about the dynamics of domestic violence and learn about the resources in your community. This November 24, 2002, the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute together with the Governor's Domestic Violence Elimination (DoVE) Council will be presenting a half day workshop on "Religious Aspects of Domestic Violence" at the Holiday Inn in Casper, WY.
DISASTER MENTAL HEALTH AND TERRORISM
Before a disaster occurs the majority of people are usually in a state of relative equilibrium. When a stressfull incident occurs, people experience a state of disequilibrium and there is a perceived need to return to an equilibrium. Faced with this dynamic situation, the role of psychosocial and disaster mental health workers is to support, and at the same time, accelerate the re-equilibrium process. Thus the worker may have to deal with disaster victims who are in various states of recovery. On the one hand there are those who, because of the presence of compensation factors, situational support and appropriate adaptation mechanisms, have a realistic perception of the incident. This usually leads to resolution as one’s equilibrium is regained without crisis. On the other hand, there are others who, because of the absence of compensation factors, of situational support, and of adaptive mechanisms, may have a distorted perception of the incident. Problems then remain unresolved resulting in disequilibrium and crisis. A crisis intervention referral is needed (Morley, Messick and Aguilera, 1967).
Victims of disasters can experience a variety of losses such as loss of loved ones, health, material possessions, animals, work, social environment, dreams. When confronted by such losses, each person has to go through the grieving process and deal with their disaster experience in their own way. Some emotional reactions such as fear, sadness, pain or anxiety are linked to what has happened and these emotions affect the behaviour of individuals. The important message to share with those affected is that these reactions or behaviors are human, natural and normal. It’s the disaster that is abnormal.
The psychosocial consequences of natural disasters are an important part of what Disaster Mental Health deals with. Understanding these are an important component in effectively dealing with the ramifications of terrorism. Lessons learned from the experiences of disaster mental health in natural disasters, and how these might be applied to the aftermath of terrorist acts can be instructive (DeMartino, 1999). There are some mental health issues which are specific to terrorism. These include how behavioral and mental health issues are integral parts of the preparation, mitigation and response for all disasters. However, they are especially important in bioterrorism events. Of particular emphasis is the fact that, more than any other form of terrorism, biological terrorism will challenge planners, responders, politicians, health care providers, and the citizens of this country in ways they have not been challenged in the past. Because of the combination of stealth and destructiveness, the intent to induce dread and confusion, and the capacity to create a very prolonged acute crisis, bioterrorist acts create an event which has a very profound impact.
This can be likened to the issue of acute behavioral responses to such events as the early days of a nuclear Armageddon. It is critical to be aware of the determinants of some of the potential consequences of a bioterrorist event. Emphasis must be placed on risk perception and risk responses as being essential to any response efforts as well as both pre- and post-interventions and their potential usefulness.
It is important to identify the aspects of terrorist events that could lead to the psychological, social, and behavioral responses. As a group, terrorist events have a greater potential for more severe and longer lasting behavioral/psychosocial sequelae than natural disasters. The rationale is for the expectation that, especially in relation to terrorist events, the number of psychological casualties will be many times more numerous than the physical casualties.
DeMartino (1999) identified the following types of expected responses to bioterrorist use of Biological Weapons:
* Psychological Responses - Anger, Horror, Paranoia, Fear of invisible agents, Demoralization.
* Social Responses - Damage to community cohesion and infrastructure, hardening of attitudes with opposition to political reconciliation and support for extreme countermeasures, doubt of collective security and stability of societal structure
* Behavioral Responses - Panicked evacuation; flouting of quarantine restrictions; overwhelmed health care facilities; dereliction of jobs and family responsibilities; behavioral reactions at a distance; repeated acts of terrorism.
Overall, the ultimate psychosocial consequences of Bioterrorism, aside from the inherent resilience and vulnerabilities of any person or community, rest on the interactions of four factors:
1) Medical-psychological effects of the biological agent;
2) Stress experience of the event;
3)Effectiveness of pre-event interventions; and
4) Effectiveness of post-event response measures.
The stress experience as the result of Bioterrorism is dependent upon a number of factors:
Mitigating the medical effects and risk response to a bioterrorist attack are:* As a result of the attack, being ill, caring for the ill and being exposed to the ill
* Geographic and community stigmatization (for those targeted by the attack)
* Individual and community economic loss
* Physical displacement
* Risk Perception, involving -
~ Personal Psychological makeup;
~ The role of the media and what they portray;
~ Behavioral reactions of those affected and citizens in general;
~ Public trust in institutions
~ Influence of crowd behavior in an evolving scenario
* Pre-event interventions - increasing the public resistance to fear
* Post-event Responses
~ Bio-social - mass care and return to social roles and supports
~ Debriefing - in its variety of forms
~ Crisis Counseling programs
~ Continued cohesion promoted through shared community activities, healing rituals, etc.
~ Information Centers - e.g. District Information Centers, Medical/Psychological information centers
~ Hospital Interventions - triage, information dissemination, rapid return to family, professional referral
~ Community Repair - countering stigmatization, restoring social, religious and public institutions, restoring economic infrastructure
Education and information about the roles of risk perception, responses and communication and the media in determining the behavioral responses to bioterrorism are important. Finally, planning for the behavioral and psychosocial aftermath of a terrorist incident requires a multidisciplinary effort which involves political, medical, and mental health leaders as well as governmental and social institutions and agencies and citizens in general. The roles of disaster mental health in planning for pre- and post-event interventions following terrorist events is extremely important.
********************************************************************************
REFERENCES DeMartino, Robert (Feb 1999). Terrorism and Disaster Mental Health. Presentation made at 1999 Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference, Laramie, WY.
Morley, Wilbur E.; Messick, Janice M.; Aguilera, Donna C. (1967). Crisis: Paradigms of intervention. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing & Mental Health Services, 5(6) pp. 531-544.
To search for books on disasters and disaster mental
health topics, leaders, leadership, orgainizations,
crisis intervention, leaders and crises, and related
topics and purchase them online, go to the following url:
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/odochartaigh/searchbooks.html
RECOMMENDED READING
Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe
by Michael T Osterholm and John Schwartz
Editorial Review
"We are ... at the brink of a new age: what some experts call catastrophic terrorism," write Michael T. Osterholm (an epidemiologist) and John Schwartz (a Washington Post science reporter) at the start of this slim volume. What's more, "the United States is not doing enough to prepare." Smallpox, anthrax, bubonic plague--a smart terrorist could use any of these deadly diseases to wreak havoc on thousands or even millions of Americans. Yet there aren't enough antibiotics and vaccines in stockpile, public-health facilities can't handle a "surge," and most law enforcement agencies have no idea how to cope with a crisis. "I do not believe it is a question of whether a lone terrorist or terrorist group will use infectious disease agents to kill unsuspecting citizens; I'm convinced it's really just a question of when and where," writes Osterholm in the introduction.
**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
Contact your local Mental Health Center or
check the yellow pages for counselors, psychologists,
therapists, and other Mental health Professionals in
your area for further information.
**********************************************************************
George W. Doherty
Rocky Mountain Region
Disaster Mental Health Institute
Box 786
Laramie, WY 82073-0786
MENTAL HEALTH MOMENT Online: https://www.angelfire.com/biz3/news
||| Volume 1 ||| Volume 2 ||| Volume 3 ||| Volume 4 ||| Volume 5 ||| Volume 6 ||| Additional Links |||
Mental Health Moment Online
