The Debriefing

A balanced critical review of psychological debriefing by an eminent international team, published in 2000.

A collection of one of our most powerful intellectual’s short fiction Debriefing collects all of Susan Sontag’s shorter fiction, a form she turned to intermittently throughout her writing life. The book ranges from allegory to parable to autobiography and shows her wrestling with problems not assimilable to the essay, her more customary mode. Here she catches fragments of life on the fly, dramatizes her private griefs and fears, lets characters take her where they will. The result is a collection of remarkable brilliance, versatility, and charm. Sontag’s work has typically required time for people to catch up to it. These challenging works of literary art—made more urgent by the passage of years—await a new generation of readers. This is an invaluable record of the creative output of one of the most inquisitive and analytical thinkers of the twentieth century at the height of her power.

'In its essence, this is a practical book that focuses on aiding recovery from trauma over a carefully structured timeframe. Amongst other things, it provides an introduction to the concept of psychological debriefing and some of the effects of trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This book will appeal to a broad audience because it is easily accessible, not only to those professionals working with clients suffering from PTSD, but also to health practitioners, psychologists, social workers and counsellors, as well as students.' - Well-Being 'David Kinchin pays special attention to setting up optimal conditions to facilitate emotional decompression. He takes into account that trauma reactions, primarily concerned with survival, are whole-system reactions, affecting both the body and mind. He also reminds us that the initial impact of the trauma is on physical structures in the brain, disrupting memory-processing capacity, which is designed to create space and time to heal. We should all pay a great deal of attention to what he says.' - Professor Gordon Turnbull, Consultant Psychiatrist, University of Chester, Capio Nightingale Hospital, London and Ridgeway Hospital, Swindon, UK Traumatic events strike unexpectedly and turn everyday experiences upside down. Frequently, people suffering such trauma cannot shake the experience and develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Psychological debriefing (PD) is a widely practised process used as an intervention for treating people who have been exposed to trauma. It allows people who have been exposed to trauma to re-examine the traumatic event in a safe and controlled environment, and reduces the risks of developing PTSD. This book is a practical introduction to PTSD and psychological debriefing, and offers an enhanced model of PD which the author terms `Emotional Decompression'. Structured like a deep-sea dive, which has to include carefully planned safety stops on the way back to the surface to avoid getting `the bends', this model provides time frames for how long to spend at various stages of the PD process, and when to stop for discussions and explanations. The focus is on aiding recovery from this `invisible injury' over carefully structured time. The book presents a range of recovery models, from the `simple' models developed by Williams and Horowitz to the more complex `Snakes and Ladders' model developed by the author. Appendices include an essay by one of the world's leading exponents of psychological debriefing, Atle Dyregrov, as well as case studies of debriefs completed by the author, including that of a survivor of the July 7th bombings in London. A Guide to Psychological Debriefing is an essential book for health practitioners, counsellors, psychologists and professionals working with clients suffering from PTSD, as well as students.

A riveting, first-hand account of the struggles - and victories - of Elsipogtog First Nation and their allies against Southwestern Energy, the fourth-largest gas extraction company in the United States.

This book is a concise manual on debriefing techniques in a clinical educational context. It presents the most popular debriefing techniques and, hence, can be used as a reference manual by educators to help them achieve their intended debriefing objectives. The overarching objective of debriefing is to promote reflection and improve patient safety awareness at an individual and a team level. This book provides clear explanations of what constitutes a valuable and effective debriefing, and presents the various approaches that can be used and how debriefing differs from feedback. It includes key recommendations on aspects that directly or indirectly impact debriefing with different populations of learners such as students or qualified healthcare professionals of various levels of seniority. This book can also be used as a survival guide for both simulation educators and clinicians during debriefings. It includes several useful sections explaining the different phases of a debriefing session, which help learners develop and consolidate their knowledge, and identify potential knowledge or performance gaps and near misses. The underlying philosophy of this book is to also promote profound respect for the trainee by using a non-offensive debriefing approach. Debriefing facilitators will appreciate the several key sentences that will help them lead and engage their learners in the various phases of expressing their emotions and analyzing their experience and actions.

Debriefing the President presents an astounding, candid portrait of one of our era’s most notorious strongmen. John Nixon, the first man to conduct a prolonged interrogation of Hussein after his capture, offers expert insight into the history and mind of America’s most enigmatic enemy. In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms during a nine-month search, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before it could make the announcement that would rocket around the world. At the time, John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator. Called upon to make the official ID, Nixon looked for telltale scars and tribal tattoos and asked Hussein a list of questions only he could answer. The man was indeed Saddam Hussein, but as Nixon learned in the ensuing weeks, both he and America had greatly misunderstood just who Saddam Hussein really was. After years of parsing Hussein’s leadership from afar, Nixon faithfully recounts his debriefing sessions and subsequently strips away the mythology surrounding an equally brutal and complex man. His account is not an apology, but a sobering examination of how preconceived ideas led Washington policymakers—and the Bush White House—astray. Unflinching and unprecedented, Debriefing the President exposes a fundamental misreading of one of the modern world’s most central figures and presents a new narrative that boldly counters the received account.

This book provides an in-depth and complete guide explaining how to incorporate the strategic dialogue and strategic communication methods into the debriefing after the scenario, characteristics that make it unique. After examining all the aspects that allow a correct use of the simulation, such as knowledge of models, logical schemes, use of the different simulators, planning of the didactic activities and of learning process, this practical book aims to explore the advanced technique of the strategic debriefing. It encourages not only those who are approaching this new debriefing tool but also it provides a useful update to all those who are already more familiar with the standard debriefing after simulation technique.The strategic language, an effective tool in strategic psychotherapy and business problem solving, is ideal and complementary to the standard debriefing methods, making them more performing and functional because, next to common logic, it makes use of non-ordinary logical language. The book is intended for healthcare simulation debriefers and instructors, for hospitals’ managers, university teachers and to all the physicians who are increasingly showing interest in active teaching processes with simulation.

Former Air Force Top Gun, Rob "Cujo" Teschner, builds on his work as the U.S. Air Force's Subject Matter Expert on the fighter pilot Debrief as an instructor at the renowned U.S. Air Force Weapons School. He's adapted the Air Force high-performing team approach to Debriefing and introduces this process to help organizations achieve their all and build contexts where teams can thrive. Among the many important concepts Rob brings forward, he highlights: There's a difference between Taskwork and Teamwork, and most organizations are only focused on the Taskwork at the expense of team skills; Organizations must organize to develop trust; they do this by building Psychological Safety, a condition where people feel safe to talk about the truth; Leaders have to learn to become vulnerable and admit their faults. Only by leading as they want their teams to act will they inspire people to act the same; Institutionalizing the practice of debriefing can increase team performance significantly, allowing individuals and organizations to achieve new levels of success. In the end, the key to an organization's long-term success is its practice of accountability and the degree to which its leaders hold themselves and their teams accountable for the decisions they make. High-performing fighter teams have been practicing this version of accountable leadership since World War I. Debrief to Win is the resource every organization needs in order to start improving NOW. It's also the resource every organization needs to build a context where teams can truly thrive. Debrief to Win is a book that applies to all aspects of human performance, from the boardroom to the dining room, from high-performing professional teams to family teams of only two people. The Debrief is a life skill with far-reaching ramifications. This book offers deep insight into how individuals and organizations can harness this powerful tool for personal and professional gain.