ABSTRACT
Data suggest that the people employed in the emergency response professions are under unusually high stress. This factor may adversely affect their social, psychological and emotional well-being. The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) program was devised by Drs. Jeffrey T. Mitchell and George Everly, Jr. in order to help emergency workers overcome the obstacles that hinder them from performing positively in their chosen fields. The objectives of this paper are twofold: 1) it will report on the results of a study on 108 Kuwaiti firefighters and the relationship between cognitive interpretations and the manifestation of symptoms of PTSD; and, 2) it will describe the development of a CISM program to assist in the recovery from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Subject(s)
Crisis Intervention/methods , Disasters , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy , Warfare , Affect , Humans , Kuwait , Male , Program DevelopmentABSTRACT
In the earliest formulations of posttraumatic stress (PTS) and even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it was clear that war could engender PTSD within both primary and secondary victims. The clinical course of PTS and PTSD is not always clear, but the disorder may persist months and even years after the precipitating traumatic event. The current study was undertaken in an effort to assess the prevalence of PTSD in a sample of 404 Kuwaiti citizens 4.5 years after the invasion and occupation of Kuwait by the Iraqi Army. Results indicate a psychometrically assessed prevalence of PTSD of 28.4%. A subsample of 195 students revealed a prevalence of 45.6%. If correct, these data are worrisome indeed and point to 1) a significant public health challenge facing the government of Kuwait, as well as, 2) the increased sensitivity of the young to traumatic stress, both personally and vicariously. Based upon the current data, there may exist a virtual epidemic of posttraumatic stress disorder within the Kuwaiti population 4.5 years after the end of the Iraqi occupation. These data argue the need for a comprehensive confirmatory epidemiological investigation in the current prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder within the Kuwaiti population so that appropriate resources may be further directed to address what may be a significant public health problem.
Subject(s)
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Warfare , Adult , Female , Humans , Iraq , Kuwait , Life Change Events , Male , Prevalence , Psychometrics/methods , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/epidemiology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychologyABSTRACT
It has been proven time and again that emergency service personnel experience much more stress than non-emergency workers. This has been a negative factor which affects their social, psychological, and emotional life. The purpose of the present study is to add to the cross-cultural data relating to the prevalence of posttraumatic stress among emergency services personnel, specifically firefighters. A random sample of 108 Kuwaiti firefighters yielded a psychometric prevalence of PTSD of 18.5%. These findings are consistent with data from the United States and from Canada.
