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.