Unfortunately, no one can avoid tragic and mentally traumatic situations. Everyone has their own fears and a threshold of stressful experiences, after stepping over which a person then plunges into emotions. Debriefing is the so-called “first emergency aid” of a psychological nature, which is used after critical moments in training and psychology.
Debriefing refers to “briefing”, which, in the case of a traumatic event, becomes a short conversation with a specialist in order to reduce the emotional distress that arose after. Many people are faced with the deaths of loved ones, wars, disasters and other situations that cause shock, panic, fear and other negative experiences. If a person cannot cope with these emotions, then they begin to influence him.
Some people with PTSD begin to become depressed, lonely, become withdrawn and distrustful, and some even go crazy. To prevent the development of a negative scenario, a “debriefing” is proposed in the form of a debriefing, which can be individual (a conversation with one person) or group in nature (a conversation with participants in one event).
Debriefing is based on the personality's ability to fixate on past events. All people have their own past. However, if some event was traumatic, a person could not survive it, then it will affect his present life (decisions and actions) and the future (the results of his decisions and actions).
The online magazine psytheater.com says that there is no past and future. Only the present exists. Can you refute this fact? Now you are in a real place, in a real time, living a real life. What is the past? This is something that will never come back. What is the future? This is something that hasn't happened yet. If you live in thoughts in the past or future, then you do not live anywhere. The present passes you by, the past makes you relive again and again what has already disappeared, and the future makes you yearn for what may never happen.
The past is your thoughts about what happened. These events no longer exist, they are in your head when you remember them. This means that if you don’t remember, then neither events, nor feelings, nor fears from the past will be in your life. You don’t return them, but you left them in the past, which means that all your reactions to them are in the past. The past is what happened to you, but has already passed. If you return to that reality, the present place and time where your body is, you will notice that much of the past no longer surrounds you. You surround yourself with past events, feelings, experiences with your own thoughts, although in reality this no longer exists. You know that a person quite often remembers both good and bad. This means that if you feel bad because of what happened in the past, it is your own fault. Now the past is gone, but for some reason you bring it back by remembering it.
The future is your thoughts about what has not yet happened. It may happen, it may not happen, some things are completely unpredictable. The future is your desired expectations. This too is only in your head because the future has not happened yet. What you think about may not happen, as well as disappointment from unfulfilled expectations, if you do not expect only what is not yet actually happening. The trap of the future is that it is the very beautiful place where a person wants to live. The future has not yet happened, which means it can truly become what everyone wants it to be. But it’s not enough to think about the future. To get what you want, you need to create it with your own hands in the present time. But many people forget about this, paying attention only to just dreaming. This is why the future is so often disappointing: people often expect a lot from it without doing anything to realize their desires. And if there are no actions, then there are no results. The future becomes as uninteresting and boring as the present.
There is only the present - what is happening here and now. The present is your past, which it will become in a few minutes, months and years. This means that if you want your past to please you, you need to make your present pleasant for yourself. The present is your real future. Not what you dream of, but what you actually achieved as a result of your actions and words spoken. This future is not fictional, but real.
Obviously, there is no past or future - all this is only in your head. There is only the present, which will soon become your past and is your future. If you want the present to make you happy, you must not run away from it into the past or future, but live in it, make it interesting for yourself, so that you have something to remember later.
What is debriefing?
Debriefing is a one-time psychological conversation, which is aimed at discussing a traumatic event that occurred no more than 2-3 days ago, with the goal of minimizing the emotional experiences that a person had during the event. This consultation is aimed at listening to the person, providing him with assistance, and explaining what actually happened (since many events are distorted in the head of a person who has experienced stress).
Since several people may be involved in the incident (for example, a bank robbery or a plane crash), consultation is carried out with everyone at once. Such work allows a person not only to speak out, but also to look at the situation through the eyes of other participants, listen to their opinions, share their ideas and learn something new.
Debriefing is aimed at providing a person with the opportunity to speak out, hear another point of view, receive support and understanding, so that all this reduces the level of internal feelings that can become the main problem.
There is a wonderful parable about how two monks approached a shallow river to cross it and saw a beautiful girl. One of these monks took the girl in his arms and carried her across the river. The girl thanked the man and left. And then the second monk came up and began to say critically: “How could you touch this girl. This is a sin." To which the first monk replied: “I carried the girl away a long time ago, and you still carry her within you.”
People do the same thing: they constantly carry with them everything that has already happened in the past, without even trying to part with this burden with a calm soul.
Modern society is built on suffering. The main source of suffering is the past, because every person has a sad story that can be called the most tragic. Numerous programs are built on grief and the past, which constantly repeat and remind people of their sorrows. Man is accustomed to living in the past. Because everything is already known there, it’s clear, he has already gone through a lot. And at any moment an individual can return to the happy moments of his life or to the sad, sorrowful ones.
Often a person remembers the bad. Why? Because he faces stressful situations almost every day. On the way to work, at work itself, in the company of friends, at home with a loved one, with children, with parents, etc. Everywhere a person goes, he becomes an object to become a “scapegoat” or to blame . Such periodic conflict situations sometimes lead a person to deep depression, when he immerses himself to his heart’s content in his memories of bad things. He proves to himself the fallacy of life, the anger of others and the cruelty of the world in general. Everyone can find a lot of reasons to call the world merciless. But this is only because a person wants to find someone to blame among everyone except himself.
Let the past remain in the past. Return your consciousness to the room where you are now. Feel your body, feel every cell of your body. Pay attention to your back, eyes, hands. Relax, straighten up, calm down. You are here and now, where you are warm, comfortable and cozy. At the moment, no one is tugging at you, no one is screaming. You are alone or not alone, but you are in a calm mood. You may be sad, but still no one bothers you, scolds you, or discusses you. You are here, where it is good and calm. And stay here longer.
Leave the past in the past. It can no longer be changed. No need! What has happened has passed. So allow yourself the mistakes and failures that are inherent even in the richest, happiest and most successful people. You are not the only one who does stupid things - everyone does them. But why think about it? Let bygones be bygones. Let him go. And return your thoughts, your gaze, your hearing, etc. to the room where you are now. It’s better to think about how you feel now, what you want at this very moment. Or simply spend time with your external and internal sensations of the body. Try to live for today, and not for what happened yesterday, a month ago or 10 years ago. It was then, but it is not now. So, why continue to carry something that has no meaning today? Leave all experiences in the past. Enjoy the sensations that surround you now.
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Reflection, debriefing, sharing
Reflection plays a very important role in my courses for training game practitioners and design thinkers. Without it, the extraordinary educational result that is embedded in games and tasks simply cannot be achieved. But, unfortunately, only a few adults, not to mention teenagers, immediately know how to effectively and usefully reflect on the events of their own lives. And now we will not talk about useless internal dialogue that consumes a lot of energy and not about dwelling on a bad experience. Next, I will give my answer to the question “How to effectively reflect on your life?”
How do I understand reflection? How does it differ for me from other ways of completing and summing up anything?
Reflection is the ability to mentally stop, get out of a situation, and take the position of an outside observer-analyst to develop a fundamentally new understanding of what happened.
Why is it often easier to advise others than to come up with the right solution for yourself in time? Because we are outside the situation, or even if we are in it, the emotional background and significance for us are lower. If I see in class that students have very vivid experiences after a game, task, or event, then I definitely conduct “ sharing” . In my understanding, this is an expression of feelings and emotions, processing the internal energy of what happened. This way I relieve emotional tension and prepare my mind for further mental work.
Why do we or others often “dance on the rake”? Why do we make the same decisions and take the same actions without even realizing it? While we are in a situation, we rather state the types and order of actions. What they did, how they did it, how they reacted. The focus is on our own actions. Their vision and assessment are rather static. Here attitudes and beliefs float to the surface: good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair. They are what prevent us from forming a new view of what happened. Focus on yourself, only now not on emotions, but on actions, again blocks the path to reflection. I conclude that the time has come to conduct a “debriefing” , to give students the opportunity to express an opinion about their own and others’ actions or inactions. This is judgmental work.
Reflection is productive doubt about one’s own actions. That is, in order to move to it, you need to remove the emotional intensity and the uncontrollable desire to protect and justify your actions.
What can this productive doubt produce? Why doubt?
The “I - others - world” model works great here.
- You can become aware of your own deficiency. Understand what is missing to solve the problem and overcome the obstacle.
- You can better understand other people, the motives of their actions, their way of thinking, their patterns of behavior.
- You can calculate the patterns of the situation, then quickly navigate what is happening and predict the development of events.
From a new understanding, new actions are born, which means that something that was previously unattainable is obtained. Understanding, and therefore reflection, takes place within one specific person. This is fundamentally different from public statements in “sharing” and “debriefing,” but at the same time can be verbalized. Like any skill, reflexivity can be developed. I pay special attention to this, because, in essence, this is the development of thinking, taking it to a new level.
Debriefing in psychology
In psychology, a debriefing is a conversation with participants in tragic events after 48 hours, since only after such a time they become able to look at the situation and begin to analyze it. If debriefing is carried out at a later date, then the memories may become vague and modified. Therefore, photographs and videos can often be used here to restore memories.
Debriefing is intended to discuss a person’s problem that arose in him during a traumatic event. If the conversation is carried out collectively, then the person notices that not only he was shocked by what happened. He receives support and understanding from similarly affected individuals, hears their points of view, which helps reduce internal tension and suffering.
Of course, debriefing cannot completely rid a person of his experiences and the consequences of emotions. However, it helps reduce internal tension, which can be reduced individually. You can work with a person either once or several times, which depends on him personally.
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Psychological debriefing: goals, objectives, general characteristics
Psychological debriefing, as a form of crisis intervention, is a specially organized discussion and is used in groups of people who have jointly experienced a stressful or tragic event.
The overall goal of group discussion is to minimize psychological distress. Realizing the goal allows you to solve the following problems:
· “Working through” impressions, reactions and feelings.
· Contribute to the cognitive organization of lived experience by understanding both events and reactions.
· Reducing individual and group tension.
· Reducing the feeling of uniqueness and pathology of one’s own reactions, i.e. normalizing the state by discussing feelings and a real opportunity to share one’s experiences with each other.
· Mobilization of internal and external group resources, strengthening group support, solidarity and understanding.
· Prepare to experience any symptoms or reactions that may occur.
· Determine means of further assistance if necessary.
The person leading the debriefing must be clear that he is not a “consultant” and certainly not a group therapist in the traditional sense. It is not a “cure” either. Its meaning is to try to minimize the likelihood of severe psychological consequences after stress. Debriefing cannot prevent their occurrence, but prevents their development and continuation, promotes understanding of the causes and awareness of the actions that need to be taken. Therefore, at the same time, this is a method of both crisis intervention and prevention.
Psychological debriefing is used in a wide variety of incidents, united by two common characteristics: these are situations in which there was a threat perceived by the participants, and the participation of all group members in it.
The optimal time for debriefing is no earlier than 48 hours after the event. These are often cases where those who were involved will have already gone through a period of particular reactions immediately after the event, and when reflection and introspection are already possible.
But the more time passes, the more foggy the memories will be. To recreate the feelings and states experienced then at a long time distance after the event, video recordings or films about the event can be used.
The ideal setting for debriefing is a room where the group is isolated from outside interference, such as telephones. Group members should sit around the table. This is better than using the traditional group therapy model, where chairs are arranged in a circle with an empty space in the middle. This organization of space may be unusual for a group of people and therefore perceived as threatening.
Those leading the debriefing should be familiar with group work and issues related to anxiety, trauma, and grief. They need to be confident and calm when group members express intense emotions.
The debriefing should be led by one leader who has assistants - one or two leaders, although, of course, there are situations when the second condition cannot be met.
Consideration of practical issues such as funding, prior training, suitability of staff to work in extreme conditions and group size may determine how many facilitators will be required for the job.
The core of the task is the organization of the group discussion itself. This includes speaking, listening, making decisions, teaching, following the agenda, and bringing the meeting to a satisfactory conclusion and positive outcome. The presenter also has other functions. And although they are important, they must be subordinated to the main objectives of the action. This includes knowledge of the patterns of group dynamics and their use, monitoring the movement of group members inside and outside the room where the classes are taking place, monitoring time, individual contacts with those whose condition has worsened and recording what is happening.
Debriefing group size is a tricky issue. Fifteen people is probably the maximum, unless there are special circumstances. When, for example, it is necessary to work with a large number of first responders involved in a large incident, people can discuss simultaneously in several groups of 15 people, with the help of corresponding groups of debriefing facilitators, or sequentially.
Group members do not have to work together; they can discuss a common task without being on the same team. If the number of participants exceeds 15, it may be preferable to divide the team into small subgroups, since everyone present is still listening and potentially experiencing the same problems. If there are outsiders at the debriefing who were not involved in the incident or key to it, they should not be included in the group's work. The exception will be cases when someone's presence is necessary for the group. This could be the leader, the main organizer, or someone else whose role in the life of the group is extremely important.
Debriefing in training
The training also includes a debriefing, which aims to exchange opinions and draw a collective conclusion. Since each training is accompanied by various exercises, a debriefing is held at the end of the exercise.
The facilitator asks what the participants in the exercise understood and experienced. Each person shares his impressions, emotions, considerations, which may overlap, be supplemented or refuted by the opinions of other participants. Everyone expresses their experiences, after which all participants draw certain conclusions based on the results of the exercise.
Debriefing in training helps to see the situation as a whole and understand how to act most effectively in it in order to achieve maximum results.
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Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
Quite often, specialists in certain areas face critical incidents: police officers, doctors, firefighters, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military, etc. They constantly face stressful situations, so even they need psychological help in the form of debriefing in order to reduce emotional stress and come to terms with situations.
The conversation is conducted by the facilitator for 2.5 hours, during which the person expresses his feelings, talks about what happened, listens to the opinion of the facilitator, and receives support and understanding.
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Is debriefing ultimately beneficial?
On the one hand, every individual needs psychological help and support after a traumatic situation. Everyone wants to speak out and get support, to see that they are understood or that their experiences are not unique. On the other hand, the debriefing should be carried out once, since often the participants in the tragedy want to meet again and again and discuss the problem.
If a person gets carried away by discussing a traumatic situation, then, on the contrary, he plunges even deeper into his experiences and does not come out of them. This is why the debriefer must conduct the conversation in such a way that the client is freed from past burdens and continues to live a real life.
Bottom line
Stressful situations always leave trauma in a person’s soul. It is not always possible for an individual to cope with emotions that greatly hurt, frighten, disturb, or disturb. If he does not receive external psychological support, this can turn into psychotrauma, which will now bother him every time a trigger arises.
Debriefing helps eliminate negative emotions so that they do not develop into psychological trauma. If the work is carried out in a team, then getting rid of irrational emotions will happen faster.
