Citation

Lewis SJ. Aggress. Violent Behav. 2003; 8(3): 329-343.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Psychological debriefings (PDs) have proliferated throughout the trauma and mental health community under the auspice as a one-shot preventive intervention to mitigate acute stress reactions and prevent the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The author presents the results of a systematic research synthesis (SRS) of the available literature on the many variants of PDs. Fifteen empirical studies were systematically analyzed to determine the empirical status of PDs, examine the contention that debriefings prevent PTSD, and investigate the context and with whom PDs demonstrate effectiveness. In toto, PDs lack empirical support. Furthermore, the studies examined had a number of methodological shortcomings, which accent the need for further, well-controlled research of the components of debriefings, experience and training of debriefing providers, and the appropriate context and population prescriptive of PD.