Psychological
First Aid (PFA)- What is it
PFA
or the Psychological First Aid is just an early assistance provided by those
who are immediately available when a person seeks help, for the stabilization
of the instantaneous emotional wounds and prevention of further exposure to
emotional injury after making Initial assessment of intensity of the
psychological distress.
Psychological first aid just like a
medical first aid is not in any way equalant to providing a full-fledged
psychological intervention. It is the method in which any lay person with a
minimal qualification and the impetus to serve can be trained in providing
practical frontline emotional assistance as an emergency response to prevent
harmful behaviors whenever an individual is knocked off his psychological
balance due emotional injury which may caused by various reasons such as
relationship breakdowns, job related stress, marital discord, financial
collapse, failure in academic or other areas of life and health or issues
related to children. Such turmoils are transient events that are common for
individuals in every walk of life irrespective of the class, culture or the
social set up. But the present generation especially adolescents and young
adults of today find such events as unmanageable which at times lead to
psychological breakdown resulting in some irreversible damages to physical and
mental health
People in emotional distress act
differently from their normal ways. The differences are seen in their behavior,
attitude and speech. It may range from anything as simple as excessive
preoccupation, withdrawal, not showing enthusiasm and pleasure in the
activities which had been pleasurable earlier, talking with predominant
negative attitude towards circumstances and life to sudden emotional outbursts
or breakdown.
Depending on the nature of distress
and their coping ability, the changes may come about slowly or suddenly. What
everyone should realize is that psychological distress encountered by an
individual can be noticed and understood only by people who are around and
close to him/her. But most of the time the person who observes these changes
may not even understand the seriousness and even if they take it seriously they
may be unsure of as and how to intervene. Many also find it uncomfortable to
even discuss it with the person based on the concept of psychological distress
till such time that the affected is in the verge of breakdown or the damage is
already done.
A major chunk of the people who
experience psychological problems would never even have a minimal idea of approaching
a mental health professional at the first instance. The stigma associated and
lack of easy access to the professional, lack of knowledge about when and where
to seek a professional help, lack of time etc are usually stated as reason.
If the person in distress wants to
seek help, the first individual they would look forward to get assistance are
the people with whom they can establish contact immediately any easily. These
may include mostly colleagues, immediate superiors, teachers and friends. In some
cases it may the immediate relatives including parents and siblings. Of course the first supportive care can be
given only by this person. But how effective the support provided is helpful to
the concerned individual is still a question mark. Even if it is not helpful at
least it should not be harmful in them any way.
However if there is a person trained
in providing appropriate psychological care not branded as a mental health
professional in the in group; who can be contacted right away, naturally the
inclination will be towards getting assistance from that person rather than
anybody else, however close they may be. Naturally the intervention can be done
by such persons in a more systematic and effective manner. Moreover, only this
people can identify the intensity of the impact of the emotional distress and
motivate the individual to seek help from professional psychologists.
The above said factors blatantly bring
forth the need to spread awareness about training more and more interested
people in providing psychological first aid, the psychological care and the
initial supportive intervention that can be provided by any person with
appropriate simple methodical training and adequate knowledge in the methods of
providing the same, when an individual
undergoing the emotional crisis. There is also the need to make it mandatory
for every institution be it schools or colleges and organizations irrespective
of its type to have at least a few trained psychological first aid providers in
every department just like the presence of trained in medical first aid
providers in the manufacturing and core engineering industries.
The psychological first aid program is
an effective method of imparting adequate awareness to providers about
identifying the psychological problems in the people around them and training
them in providing some initial basic immediate systematic contingency support.
Psychological first aid training is a short term program with primary focus on methods of the providers being patient,
responsive and sensitive, observing and understanding the impact of the
emotional injury, communicating effectively and establishing a rapport in a non-intrusive, compassionate manner, provide
appropriate physical and emotional comfort, listening with the focus on comprehending what they want to
tell, helping the person in distress to ventilate their emotions and verbalize
their feelings by provide simple labels for common emotional reactions, helping
them to articulate their immediate needs concerns and questions and discussing
how the provider may be of help. This program also includes methods of Enhancing the feeling of immediate and ongoing
safety, Providing some immediate techniques that may help them to cope
effectively with the psychological impact of the trauma, acknowledging coping
efforts and strengths, encouraging them to use
of positive coping methods, guiding them
to address their immediate needs and concerns in a more effective way and
motivating them to meet a mental health profession if the need is felt.
The goal of
Psychological First Aid is to reduce distress, assist with immediate emotional
needs, and promote adaptive functioning. The
primary function of psychological first aid is maintaining the emotional status
and limiting the damage to mental health immediately after any emotionally
traumatic experience until professional psychological care is available. The
adjunct function primarily in a social setup like the one in India where there
is lot of stigma and perceived limitations in seeking help of a mental health
professional is motivating the individual to seek professional assistance and
facilitating transition to trained mental health professional for appropriate
intervention since in most cases it may be long before the affected seeks or gets
“professional" help on his own.
Just
like providing medical first aid, providing the immediate buffer and support in
dealing successfully with emotional distress or blows encountered can prevent
the individual from taking some emotionally charged extreme steps such as
suicide where the damage done may be irreversible.
Adequate awareness and training more
and more people where by psychological first aid services are made available to
every individual in distress can go a long way in preventing the damage to
human resources in all its forms and developing a mentally healthy society.
