The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid

by George S. Everly Jr., Jeffrey M. Lating

2017 · JHU Press

Learn the essential skills of psychological first aid from the expert who created the Johns Hopkins RAPID PFA method. Psychological first aid, or PFA, is designed to mitigate the effects of acute stress and trauma and assist those in crisis to cope effectively with adversity. PFA is designed to be applied in emergencies, including disasters and terrorist attacks. In this essential guide, George S. Everly, Jr., developer of the Johns Hopkins RAPID PFA method, and Jeffrey M. Lating, his collaborator in its implementation, describe the principles and practices underpinning this psychological model in an easy-to-follow, prescriptive, and practical manner. They explain the history of PFA and persuasively demonstrate its powerful versatility. Mental health practitioners can apply PFA in all settings. It can also be used as a public-health tool to address mental health needs following critical incidents and as a means for building community resilience. Aimed at mental health practitioners, all first responders, and global health disaster teams such as Médecins Sans Frontières and the World Health Organization, The Johns Hopkins Guide to Psychological First Aid is the first book to thoroughly explain RAPID PFA. RAPID, a unique theoretically grounded and evidence-based PFA method, follows a set of easily understood principles. In each chapter, Everly and Lating provide a step-by-step approach and include a key point summary to emphasize essential elements. A unifying case exemplifies each phase of the RAPID PFA model in an ongoing dialogue that presents ideal PFA responses, examples of common mistakes, and various outcomes. In addition to their counseling experience in Kuwait after the Gulf War and in New York City after the September 11 attacks, the authors have traveled nationally and internationally to teach the RAPID PFA method in numerous public health, fire, police, military, and faith-based settings. Beneficial to those with little or no previous mental health training, this book is an essential tool for people who want to learn, to practice, or to retain their ability to use psychological first aid effectively.

A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of the Human Stress Response

by George S. Everly, Jr., Jeffrey M. Lating

2019 · Springer

This comprehensive update of the now classic text applies the most current findings across disciplines to the treatment of pathogenic human stress arousal. New and revised chapters bring together the art and science of intervention, based in up-to-date neuroscience, starting with an innovative model tracing the stress-to-disease continuum throughout the systems of the human body. The authors detail the spectrum of physiological and psychological treatments for the stress response, including cognitive therapy, neuromuscular relaxation, breathing exercises, nutritional interventions, and pharmacotherapy. They also assess the strengths and limitations of widely-used measures of the stress response and consider the value of personality factors, cultural considerations, and resilience in stress mediation. Included in the coverage: The anatomy and physiology of the human stress response. Advances in neuroscience: implications for stress. Crisis intervention and psychological first aid. Neurophysiological rationale for the use of the relaxation response. Physical exercise and the human stress response. The pharmacological management of stress reactions. Disaster Mental Health Planning. Cultural Awareness and Stress. The Fourth Edition of A Clinical Guide to the Treatment of Human Stress Response offers readers a dual perspective, exceedingly useful in examining the origins of the stress response, and in preventing and treating the response itself. This rich integrative volume will join its predecessors in popularity among practitioners and students across disciplines and specialties.