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The Association Between Dissatisfaction with Debriefing and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Rescue and Recovery Workers for the Oklahoma City Bombing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2018

Duy Vu Tran  and
Carol S. North
Duy Vu Tran*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Carol S. North
Affiliation:
The Altshuler Center for Education & Research, Metrocare Services, Dallas, Texas The Nancy and Ray L. Hunt Chair in Crisis Psychiatry and Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Duy Vu Tran, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Health System, 1500 E Medical Center Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5295, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential association between psychopathology and subjective evaluation of the experience of debriefing in disaster-exposed rescue and recovery workers.

Methods

Structured diagnostic interviews for DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders were conducted with 166 firefighters who served as rescue and recovery workers for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, who categorized their satisfaction with the debriefing on 4 levels. “Very dissatisfied” responses were examined for their association with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and with PTSD symptom groups.

Results

Being “very dissatisfied” with the debriefing was significantly associated with the DSM-III-R avoidance and numbing group and with PTSD.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that debriefing may be an unsatisfactory intervention for people with prominent avoidance and numbing symptoms, such as those with PTSD. These individuals might be better served by referral directly to psychiatric treatment (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:718-722).

Keywords

PTSDavoidance and numbingdebriefingcrisis interventiondisaster responders
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 718 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2018 

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