Coping with a Critical Incident -
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

On July 7 2000, at around 6:00am, an employee was found dead after jumping from height. The Head of the Human Resources, after meeting up with the company CEO and other important administrative personnel, had called upon the EDS for immediate emergency consultation and critical incident stress debriefing service. A team of 12 critical incident specialists was alerted to the incident in the early morning and was requested to stand-by for necessary action in a later time. By 9:00am, the tragic news was announced to the employees of various sites and a series of psychological debriefing sessions was arranged for the employees who were believed to be involved in and affected by the tragic incident. During the full day of debriefing sessions, the specialists in pair had totally debriefed over 100 individuals in groups of 10-15 every one and half hour.

A critical incident, such as the one described above, is an abnormally stressful event that is psychologically traumatic. It can involve such situations as workplace violence, a sudden death in line of duty, industrial accident, severe injury, fire or robbery. It may cause psychological disturbance among the victims and other individuals. Despite one's rank, years of service, or gender, critical incidents occurred in the workplace may cause employees to experience unusual emotional reactions that have the potential to interfere with their ability to function either at the crisis scene or away from it.

Work related stress is an everyday occurrence and is usually managed by the individual; however, traumatic events and crises in the workplace can have devastating and long-lasting effects on employee morale and productivity. Sometimes, physical and emotional stress reactions following a critical incident may be considered normal and may diminish in time. However, very intense or prolonged reactions may have seriously adverse effects on employees' well-being. The impact of a traumatic event often goes unrecognized even after common stress reactions appear. Without support and debriefing, the affected employees can suffer terribly. This may also affect the organization, as employees try to cope using potentially unhelpful or destructive techniques (such as taking days off or resigning.) In that case, a critical incident stress debriefing can be a valuable tool for the employees following a traumatic event.

Critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) is a specific technique designed to assist individuals dealing with the physical or psychological symptoms that are generally associated with trauma exposure. The intent of the CISD is to normalize reactions, facilitate coping, "spot" and refer individuals who may benefit from specialized assistance, and provide information about related community resources. CISD is also a group sharing and education designed to minimize the occurrence of unnecessary psychological suffering. It allows the affected individuals to proceed the event and reflect on its impact.

CISD is often carried out by practitioners trained in CISD. It is not counselling, and takes the form of a group meeting or discussion that focuses on the relief of stress in normal, emotionally healthy people. Voluntary participation, mutual respect and confidentiality are emphasized in the process. The whole process usually lasts two hours. When structured, the process usually consists of seven steps: Introduction; Fact Phase; Thought Phase; Reaction Phase; Symptom Phase; Teaching Phase; and Re-entry Phase. During debriefing, participants are invited to share their roles, thoughts and distress related to the incident. Education about stress reaction and coping strategies will be given to avoid development of false concepts in participants about critical incident stress reactions, which may contribute to further distress about one's own atypical reactions. Typically a debriefing takes place within 24 - 72 hours of the incident. Research shows that the sooner the debriefing takes place after the incident, the more positive the impact on the individuals.

Although some people believe "talking about the incident will not help much", research findings indicate psychological debriefing is a well-received intervention for most people. It is useful for providing correct information on mental health, screening at-risk individuals for further follow up, and assisting organizational morale and team spirit. Of course, the participants who are under acute distress following a traumatic incident may benefit to a more active follow up, probably psychological treatments. More importantly, CISD promotes a more rapid recovery from incidents and aids the affected individuals to return to their normal work and home routines.