Week 9 Discussion

Intervention and Postvention

It is believed that no one who witnesses a terrorist event and the subsequent damage it causes is untouched by it. This is especially true of first responders—police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and rescue and recovery specialists. Although first responders as a group generally possess incredible resiliency, repeated exposure to traumatic events yields an increased risk of developing PTSD and other related psychiatric disorders (National Alliance on Mental Illness, n.d.) A numbing response that results from overexposure to such events may, in first responders, be misread as stability or calmness when the effects of the trauma are in fact profound.

In this Discussion, you will explore the impact that providing terrorism-related rescue and recovery services has on first responders. Then, you will explore how the effect on first responders may impact rescue and recovery services.

To prepare for this Discussion:

· Review Chapters 3, 17, and 26 in the course text Psychology of Terrorism. Focus particularly on the risk factors of first responders.

· Review the course media “Psychology of Terrorism: Intervention and Postvention” with Drs. Berger, Dardeck, Medrano, and Staub, paying attention to the experiences of first responders related to terrorist events.

· Consider the roles and responsibilities of first responders in providing rescue and recovery in the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack, as well as how providing these services might impact their psychological well-being.

· Reflect on the implications that the impact on first responders subsequent to a terrorist event has for rescue and recovery services.

Post by Day 4 an analysis of how providing terrorism-related rescue and recovery services in the aftermath of a terrorist attack impacts the psychological well-being of first responders. Provide specific examples to illustrate your analysis. Then, based on your analysis, describe one potential implication that the impact of terrorism on first responders has for rescue and recovery services.