Disaster Mental Health Services: A Primer for Practitioners

Assists clinicians and traumatologists in "making the bridge" between their clinical knowledge and skills and the unique, complex, chaotic and highly political field of disaster. It combines information from a reservoir of prior research and literature, as well as from the authors' experience. Disaster mental health is a growing field of practice designed to help victims and relief workers learn to effectively cope with the extreme stresses they will face in the aftermath of a disaster. The goal of disaster mental health is to prevent the development of long-term, negative psychological consequences, such as PTSD.