Post Disaster Action Plan Module Overview

Stress Image After the tornado is gone or the waters have receded, the physical threat to health begins to subside. That is when mental health becomes a major issue. As people begin to deal with their loss, they will go through a predictable set of stages as the come to cope. As a rescuer, the best thing we can do is learn to handle stress before the crisis comes.

Essential Questions

What is disaster psychology?
How can team leaders reduce stress during an incident?
What is survivor's trauma?
How do you handle a death?
What are ways you can improve your stress levels?

Key Words

Disaster Trauma - overwhelming shock of a crisis that can leave people feeling numb
Vicarious Trauma - when a person over identifies with a survivor and takes on the survivors feelings
Psychological - of, affecting, or arising in the mind; related to the mental and emotional state of a person
Physiological - Being in accord with or characteristic of the normal functioning of a living organism
Stress - a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. : something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety
Debriefing - conversational sessions that revolve around the sharing and examining of information after a specfic event has taken place
Empathetic - feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions
Psychotic - having or relating to a very serious mental illness that makes you act strangely or believe things that are not true
Impact Phase - during the crisis survivors generally don't panic and may show no emotion
Inventory Phase - after the event survivors begin to assess damage and locate others, social ties tend to be functional in response to crisis
Rescue Phase - victims willingly follow direction of arriving rescuers once they arrive after crisis
Recovery Phase - survivors begin to pull together against rescuers and may even be angry with response teams

Key Words Review

After reviewing your key words for this module, complete the review activity below:

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