INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCIES

Question your assumptions: True or False?

    ➢    The best role for a psychologist is to provide direct clinical services.  

    ➢    The most effective psychosocial assistance is individual counseling.

    ➢    Those who experience a disaster are traumatized victims.  

Psychosocial impact of disasters

Psychosocial interventions after disasters

Risks can lead to unintended harm
    
    1999 - Albania
    2002 - Sierra Leone

Important issues

    Contextual insensitivity
    Excess emphasis on deficits
    Overreliance on individualistic approaches
    Power asymmetry
    Inadequate  ethics, research, and training

Insensitivity
    
    ‘Parachuting”
        e.g., abandonment
    Security
        e.g., implications of a casualty
    Aid as a weapon
        e.g., replication of injustice
    Raised expectations
        e.g., delayed assessment and response
    Poor coordination
        e.g., institutionalized divisions
    Inappropriate interventions
        e.g., disclosing feelings, CISD

Individualistic vs. Systems Approach
    
    Informed consent
        e.g., lack of autonomy and information
        Iterative process preferred
    Excessive targeting
        e.g., stigmatizing vulnerable groups
    Non-holistic supports
        e.g., narrow clinical interventions
        Intervention pyramid
        IASC Guidelines

Deficits

    The ‘trap’
        e.g., underestimation of existing assets
    Victimhood
        e.g., shame, self-fulfilling prophecy

Capacity-building

    Dependency
        e.g., weakening of support systems
    Inadequate preparation
        e.g., skill dilution, lack of quality control
    ‘Silos’
        e.g., system fragmentation
    Power asymmetry
        e.g., imperialism and self-marginalization
    Prevention
        e.g., crisis-chasing
        Emergency preparation, protection

4 ways to minimize harm:

    1.    Critical reflection on ethical issues
    2.    Greater specificity in ethical guidance
    3.    Documentation of intervention efficacy
    4.    Improved preparation of psychologists