Debriefing in training, psychology, critical moments

Debriefing is a one-time specific conversation of a psychological nature with a subject who has experienced psychological trauma or an extreme situation. Most often, the purpose of such a conversation is to minimize the psychological harm caused to the victim by listening to the point of view of the victim and explaining to him what exactly happened to him.

Debriefing is a learning process that helps all participants reflect on past experiences, make discoveries that are useful to them, and uncover new and exciting ideas and share with other participants. Debriefing is a unique method of working in groups with mental trauma.

Differences between feedback and debriefing (by Tim Russell)

In Tim Russell's book Effective Feedback, the author distinguishes between feedback and debriefing.
He proceeds from the fact that in the training we touch on 4 aspects: we study theory, practice skills, work with attitudes, and also help develop judgments that affect the ability to make decisions based on what has been learned. Feedback can be used to assess the correctness/incorrectness of knowledge and skills. Without it, progress is impossible, as it provides information on what to do differently and what mistakes the participant made.

Debriefing can help us work through attitudes and make judgments. Since this area cannot be judged as right or wrong, debriefing with questions allows you to gather different opinions and broaden the students' horizons and thinking.

Each person has his own permissible amount of feedback perception. Students can be divided into 3 types: “thimble”, “glass”, “bucket”. Based on certain signals (statements of participants, non-verbal manifestations, etc.), you can understand with whom the trainer is dealing and, depending on this, make a decision when it is necessary to stop giving feedback and move on to debriefing.

Each participant should be given equal time to discuss their work. However, the time between feedback and debriefing may not be equally divided. For a “thimble”, for example, the emphasis will be on debriefing, since the volume of perception of possible feedback is smaller.

If the amount of feedback reaches the limit, criticism ceases to be perceived and the training participant starts to have a defensive reaction.

Defensiveness is an important element for preserving a participant's self-respect in the eyes of the group. And the coach must respect and understand this need of any student.

A defensive reaction can be of three types: at the first stage, external factors are invoked as an explanation for the failure (time limitations, video camera, presence of observers, etc.), at the second stage, they refer to unclear instructions, the unrealism of the situation, poor organization of the process, at the third stage - they directly accuse the coach of unprofessionalism and join the opposition.

In order not to provoke the participant to move to the next stage of defense, you need to accept his explanations and carefully translate the feedback into a debriefing.

Debriefing allows you to shift the focus from a specific participant and discussion of his success to a discussion with the group about common points on the topic raised. In this case, the participant who received the feedback feels safer and is more willing to accept it more enthusiastically.

Debriefing in psychology

Psychology professionals often use debriefing with participants who were jointly present in some kind of disaster or incident. As already indicated, a conversation with participants is carried out no earlier than 48 hours after the incident, so that people can be transported by memories into the past, react normally to it, and include logical and analytical thinking.

If the debriefing takes place a long time after the incident, the specialist may be faced with the fact that the participants will not be able to remember details, will begin to distort the facts, and will get confused in their testimony. This is natural for the human psyche, which does everything to ensure that traumatic memories are forgotten or suppressed, distorted, while maintaining balance. In this case, videos are used that show footage of the event.

A person feels good when no one ridicules his feelings and experiences. The specialist creates just such an environment where privacy and security create a calm feeling. At the same time, a person feels better when he notices similar experiences to his own in others. If the debriefing is carried out among a group of people who have experienced similar events or were all participants in the same disaster, then their experiences will have many overlaps.

A person feels support and inner relaxation due to the fact that he is surrounded by people who can not only sympathize, but also experience the same emotions as him.

The purpose of debriefing is to reduce the level of stressful experiences that arose in an unpleasant situation. Internal tension, worries and suffering are reduced. This is possible through the processing of the subject’s impressions and feelings, the perception of a different point of view regarding what happened and what was the meaning of what was happening. Also here, various complexes of abnormality that could arise in the victim are worked out.

Of course, the technique under consideration is not capable of guaranteeing a person’s deliverance from the negative consequences of the situation. However, debriefing helps to minimize the consequences of what happened so that the person can decide on further actions. Being fixated on one's own experiences often does not allow a person to see what is happening to him. Debriefing seems to sober up, allowing a person to make a choice.

Debriefing is considered effective in various stressful situations where psychological stress is maximum. This technique is taught to specialists who strictly adhere to the procedure.

Debriefing is used in many areas where a person may get stuck. This is learning to see other solutions, not just one. This is a role reversal where people put themselves in the shoes of their opponents in order to see the situation from the other side.

The paradox of debriefing

Despite the fact that scientists have proven the uselessness of this method, many victims after this procedure claimed that they felt better. They were sincerely convinced that the ambulance was effective.

In fact, there is a type of psychologically resilient people who are able to survive trauma themselves without developing PTSD. Therefore, their presence or absence at the debriefing procedure does not play a big role; they themselves soon fully recover.

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The essence of psychological debriefing and its stages

Definition 1

Psychological debriefing is a way of talking with a person who has experienced psychological trauma.

The purpose of psychological debriefing is to prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and other negative consequences.

Definition 2

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who experience a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.

It is natural for a person to be afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear triggers many processes in the body to help protect against or avoid danger. The fight-or-flight choice is a typical response designed to protect a person from harm. After an injury, almost everyone will experience a range of reactions, but most people naturally recover from the initial symptoms. Those who continue to experience problems may be diagnosed as having PTSD. People with PTSD may experience stress or fear even when they are not in danger.

Most psychological debriefing procedures involve one session, which can last from one to three hours, in the days immediately following the traumatic event. The timing and method of treatment depends on the qualifications of the personnel conducting the psychological debriefing. It is often carried out in groups.

The effects of debriefing tend to be evident soon after debriefing, but the medium- and long-term effects of this method of intervention on the response to trauma are highly questionable. It has been suggested that psychological debriefing may interfere with natural recovery processes after a traumatic event. This is true both for a single session and for multiple sessions. However, as of 2022, the American Psychological Association has rated psychological debriefing favorably, as the lack of support (research and treatment) is potentially harmful.

Psychological debriefing is not the same as short-term cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), prescribed for acute stress disorder, which is given approximately 2 weeks after the injury and lasts four to five sessions.

People who have experienced catastrophic events often receive a treatment called psychological debriefing to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder. They are interviewed (conversation), which is designed to allow people to directly confront the event and share their feelings with the counselor. This will help them structure their memories of the event.

In other words, psychological debriefing is a crisis intervention program that is used to provide initial psychological assistance. It is usually conducted in a group session between 24 and 72 hours after a disaster.

The idea behind this method is to “tell what happened” with a sense of reviewing or examining experiences or actions in order to achieve order in the mind and make sense of what was reported. It is a structured process that also evaluates the contributions of various participants in determining the success or failure of the operation. Processes may include receiving explanation, information, and situational reminders of context, as well as reporting on performance indicators and opportunities for further study, investigation, or performance evaluation after completion of participation.

Stages of psychological debriefing

Each psychological debriefing session consists of seven stages:

establishing rules;
fact finding to determine what happened;
discussing thoughts about what happened; (
discussing emotions related to what happened;
identifying signs and symptoms of distress;
exploring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and coping strategies;
re-discussion of any other issues and provision of any additional services

The purpose of this type of interview, as noted earlier, is to prevent the development of PTSD.

Debriefing Concepts

-The Greater Oxford English Dictionary defines debriefing as “questioning or examining a person who has returned from a task in order to obtain information from him.” The term “psychological debriefing” refers to a crisis intervention designed to reduce and prevent trauma-induced stress reactions in normal people who are experiencing extreme stress.

The purpose of psychological debriefing is to prevent the development of persistent consequences of emotional trauma by creating an opportunity for conscious cognitive appraisal and emotional processing of the traumatic event.

Psychological debriefing of the stress of critical incidents (psychological debriefing), i.e., an organized discussion of the stress collectively experienced by military personnel while solving combat tasks.

The purpose of the debriefing is to minimize and relieve the mental suffering of military personnel.

Debriefing; psychological debriefing is a one-time, semi-structured psychological conversation with a person who has experienced an extreme situation or psychological trauma. In most cases, the purpose of debriefing is to reduce the psychological damage caused to the victim by explaining to the person what happened to him and listening to his point of view.

“Debriefing” was borrowed by American psychologists from military terminology, where it meant the opposite procedure to “briefing,” something like a “debriefing.” During the debriefing, the soldier reports on the details of the mission and receives instructions on what information he received can be made public and what must remain secret. An additional task of such a “debriefing” is to smooth out psychological stress and help the soldier return to his duties. In Russian military terminology, the term “debriefing” is not used

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing

The goal of DSCI is to minimize adverse psychological consequences and prevent the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (see Post-traumatic stress disorder). This goal is achieved through the exchange of impressions and emotions (“ventilation”); cognitive organization of experience; reducing anxiety and tension; understanding the universal nature of individual reactions, achieved in the process of intense exchange of feelings in a group; mobilizing resources for mutual support, strengthening group solidarity and cohesion; preparing participants to correctly perceive their subsequent condition and use various strategies for psychological assistance.

The DSKI is conducted by a facilitator, who may have an assistant. The debriefing process usually includes 5-7 mandatory phases, through which a group of up to 8-12 people goes through.

A. Introductory: introduction of the presenter, explanation of goals, objectives and rules, relieving participants’ anxiety about the unusual nature of the procedure. The basic rules that both facilitators and participants adhere to are: a) do not force anyone from the group to talk or discuss anything they do not want to; b) maintain confidentiality: what happens or is discussed in the group is intended only for the group and is not shared outside; c) do not make critical judgments in relation to others: no one should consider what is happening as a “debrief” or “tribunal” - there is another place for them; d) everyone can only talk about their own experiences and actions (in the first person), and not about others; e) participants are warned that they may experience negative feelings again, which is natural, because We are talking about very painful things. However, the task of DSKI is precisely to learn to cope with real negative emotional states;

B. Facts: everyone talks about what happened to him: what he saw, where he was and what he did. The full picture of the incident and the chronology of events are restored. Agreement about facts contributes to the cognitive organization of experience. Expressions of emotions should not be allowed during this phase.

B. Thoughts, emotions, feelings: the presenter asks to move from a description of events to a story about internal psychological reactions to them

It is very important to remember your very first impressions, thoughts running through your head, impulsive actions and emotional reactions. Although stories can become quite dramatic, the feelings of any of the participants must not be allowed to dominate.

Everyone should have the opportunity to speak out and try to express their experiences.

D. Symptoms: Discusses the actual emotional, cognitive, and somatic manifestations of PTSD, as noted by participants in changes in self-perception and behavior. Each participant gets the opportunity to better understand his condition, noting those symptoms that, for various reasons, he did not speak out about.

D. Education (information): explaining to participants the nature of post-stress states as “normal reactions to an extreme situation”; discussion of options and ways to overcome current and possible future negative psychological consequences.

E. “Closing the past” and a new beginning: a kind of conclusion is drawn to what has been experienced. The past cannot simply be forgotten; it requires an active attitude towards oneself in order to find the strength for a new life. Rituals of “closing the past” have been developed in culture (commemorations, anniversaries, visiting places associated with events, etc.), but they also involve their own creative participation: for example, many disaster survivors devote themselves to helping avoid new disasters or reduce them consequences, use their experience in providing assistance, participate in the activities of voluntary rescue teams, etc. Formally, the DSKI procedure ends with questions from participants to the presenters, advice on how to behave in the future. The ending of DSKI is always specially emphasized (“a line is drawn”). The facilitator explains that if the condition does not improve in the next six weeks or begins to suddenly worsen, if difficulties arise in performing usual work or performance decreases, you should immediately seek help from a specialist.

Literature: Kolodzin B. How to live after mental trauma. - M., 1992; Cherepanova E.M. Self-regulation and self-help when working in extreme conditions. - M., 1995.

Encyclopedia of legal psychology. - M.: UNITY-DANA. Under the general editorship of Professor A. M. Stolyarenko. 2003.

source

PREFACE

Emergency situations are becoming increasingly widespread in modern socio-political conditions. Increasingly, children and adults find themselves in conditions of man-made disasters, natural disasters, are subjected to violence, and become hostages. Therefore, interest in the psychology of extreme situations in the modern world is steadily growing, both among politicians, sociologists, philosophers, and practical psychologists. The psychology of extreme situations is currently one of the most important sections of applied psychology, which includes both the diagnosis of the mental states of a person experiencing or having experienced emergency circumstances, as well as directions, methods, techniques, techniques of psychological assistance: psychological correction, counseling and psychotherapy.

Considerable attention is paid in the psychological literature to the identification, psychological analysis and classification of various mental phenomena that arise in victims of extreme incidents. In particular, psychological phenomena that arise under the influence of extreme factors are described in the literature under the name post-traumatic stress syndrome, or post-traumatic stress disorder. A variety of negative mental states that arise as a result of exposure to extreme factors are studied: stress, frustration, crisis, deprivation, conflict. These conditions are characterized by the dominance of acute or chronic negative emotional experiences: anxiety, fear, depression, aggression, irritability, dysphoria. The affects that arise in these states can reach such a degree of intensity that they have a disorganizing effect on a person’s intellectual and mnestic activity, making it difficult to adapt to current events. Intense emotional experiences, such as fear, panic, horror, despair, can make it difficult to adequately perceive reality, correctly assess the situation, preventing decision-making and finding an adequate way out of a stressful situation. These phenomena, reflecting the phenomenology of a person’s mental functioning in crisis, are the focus of attention of both psychiatrists and psychotherapists, as well as psychologists providing psychological assistance to people affected by emergency situations.

In a significant proportion of cases, the consequences of traumatic stress associated with experiencing extreme life situations are forms of addictive behavior such as alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse, and drug abuse. Alcohol or drugs can be used as relaxants to relieve or partially neutralize acute discomfort, tension, confusion, and fear. Excessive stress can also affect vital functions, such as sexual behavior or nutrition. Thus, the consequences of traumatic stress are not only long-term or acute emotional-negative states that complicate a person’s life, but also behavioral disorders, which are already the sphere of interest of psychiatrists. Meanwhile, such behavioral disorders have psychological causes associated with insufficient personal resources to overcome stress or with excess and redundancy of maladaptive influences in emergency circumstances.

There are life situations, familiar to everyone, that are so traumatic that they require outside help, since the person himself cannot cope with the experience of stress. For example, the situation of death, loss of a loved one, breakup of a relationship - when personal resources may not be enough. To cope with extreme stress, people experiencing loss often begin to abuse alcohol and drugs. Due to chronic stress, they may also experience various psychosomatic disorders. Psychologists are actively researching the causes of so-called psychosomatic diseases, in which psychological factors are of greatest importance. Somatic suffering such as gastric and duodenal ulcers, ulcerative colitis, hypertension or coronary heart disease often arise due to emergency circumstances against the background of prolonged and intense states of anger, rage, rage or fear, despair, depression and sadness. Thus, people who have experienced stress may end up being the doctor's patients.

The psychology of extreme situations has both its theoretical aspect, associated with the study of the characteristics of mental functioning in a crisis, and its practical application, which is determined by the need to provide psychological assistance to people affected in critical situations. Such psychological assistance is necessary to prevent behavioral disorders and prevent psychosomatic disorders. It involves the normalization of the mental state with the leveling of negative experiences that have such a destructive impact on both mental and somatic functions of a person. The main task of psychological assistance is to update the adaptive and compensatory resources of the individual, mobilize psychological potential to overcome the negative consequences of emergency circumstances. The consequence of effective psychological assistance to victims is the optimization of a person’s mental state and behavior in extreme situations.

The handbook of a practical psychologist devoted to extreme situations, which is brought to your attention, reveals both theoretical aspects that allow you to understand the specifics of these situations, their significance for a person, and practical, applied aspects: the author offers specific ways to overcome traumatic stress, specific forms of behavior that allow cope with emergency situations. It also provides specific recommendations that can be useful not only to practical psychologists, but also to all persons providing assistance to victims: doctors, rescuers, military personnel, firefighters.

Solovyova S.L.,

Doctor of Psychology, Professor,

Head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of St. Petersburg

State Medical Academy named after. I.I. Mechnikov

Debriefing the stress of critical moments

In 1983, D. Mitchell developed a framework for debriefing the stress of critical moments. It is aimed at working with people who participated in one catastrophic situation. These are not always individuals who were accidentally involved in the situation. Sometimes we are talking about employees whose work involves emergency situations.

The main goal of critical stress debriefing is to reduce psychological stress and prevent the development of PTSD and its symptoms. This becomes possible when debriefing is carried out in groups where people share their feelings and experiences, talk about their experiences, and also listen to other participants who were in the same situation. This helps to unite, find support and understanding from other people. The participants themselves begin to sympathize and analyze the situation more soberly, which everyone reveals in a new light.

The debriefing is conducted by the presenter and his assistant. Stages can range from 5 to 7. The maximum number of participants is up to 12 people.

Let's look at the structure of the debriefing:

Processing feelings:

Introductory part: introduction, familiarization with the rules.
Facts Phase: Each participant states the facts that relate to the emergency.
Thought phase: each participant shares his experiences and judgments that happened to him at one time or another when he was in an emergency.
Response phase: each participant sincerely shares his feelings that covered him at the time of the emergency and after the incident.

Discussing symptoms and getting support:

Symptom phase: Participants talk about the symptoms they experienced after the crisis situation. Sometimes they are all written out on one sheet of paper.
Preparatory phase. The presenter and assistant analyze the reactions of the participants.

Activation of resources, provision of information. Readaptation phase: There is a discussion about what the participants' symptoms might be like in the future. What can they do to prevent negative developments?

At the time of the debriefing, only the emergency participants, the presenter and his assistants are in the room. All other persons are considered redundant. The debriefing time is about 2.5 hours without breaks. This is done because during the entire time a deep study of feelings and experiences is carried out, which does not require a break.

Requirements for the presenter:

Teamwork skills.
Understanding issues related to anxiety, loss, and trauma.
Self confidence.
Emotional balance and ability to control personal emotions.

What is multi-level debriefing?

The structure and scale of this psychological intervention may vary depending on the global nature of the incident. If these are man-made disasters, natural disasters, or mass terrorist attacks, then multi-level debriefing is used.

The first level is the work of psychologists, doctors, and emergency workers with victims.

The second level is the work of psychologists with those specialists who provided assistance at the scene. After all, working at the epicenter is a strong emotional burden.

Features of conversation with emergency victims

Conversations with victims are carried out in the first 2 days after the incident, since during this period there is a high probability of preventing psychological problems.

Debriefing has the most noticeable effect on the first day, when the person has not had time to sleep or take tranquilizers. If this conversation has to be postponed, then experts notice that the events that happened have already passed into permanent memory. Therefore, the task of psychologists is to prevent the consolidation of memory traces and to minimize any negative mental manifestations after experiencing stress.

Debriefing script

Each conversation should have a script; it will be an additional support for a psychologist who also has to work in extreme conditions.

Debriefing is often carried out in the form of a training session, when participants sit in a circle, but in this case they prefer not to leave empty space in the center, because this unusual environment can be perceived by the participants as a threat. To make the conditions as comfortable as possible, use a round table.

Debriefing consists of three main parts:

1. Reproduction of what happened.

2. Analysis of symptoms and reactions.

3. Mobilization of the psychological state of health.

In addition, the entire process is divided into phases:

Acquaintance. As in a regular training, participants must give a name and tell some information about themselves.
Statement of facts. At this stage, the victims tell what exactly they had to endure. How they realized that trouble was approaching, their further actions.
Impression phase. Participants share their experiences, thoughts, emotions. If the conversation reaches a dead end, the coach must warm it up with questions: “What did you think about what happened?”, “How did you assess the situation around you?”
Feeling phase. The longest and most important stage. Many victims experience emotions that were previously unfamiliar to them, which makes them seem wild, strange, and shameful. Everyone believes that such a revolution of consciousness is happening only to him, but during the conversation he understands that everyone is experiencing similar feelings. Mutual support and emotional connection are born. This key point in the debriefing depends primarily on the trainer, who must encourage participants to be sincere.
Symptom phase. It doesn’t have to be singled out as separate; it is often included in the previous one.
The presenter and his assistants (also psychologists) must process information about the feelings of the participants, give instructions for the future, and talk about possible psychological manifestations.
Training to smooth out negative psychological manifestations in the future. At this stage it is possible to arrange another meeting.

Notes

↑ 1 2 Golitsyna, Natalya.
[www.svoboda.org/content/article/27115994.html Operation Pimlico] British spy Oleg Gordievsky recalls the circumstances of his escape from Moscow to London - exactly thirty years later (Russian). Radio Liberty (July 9, 2015). Retrieved August 4, 2015. [archive.is/P89q1 Archived from the original on August 4, 2015].
[handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA300953 Post-Military Debriefing: What Every Leader Should Know] In English, accessed August 31, 2010.
↑ 123
[anthropology.ru/ru/texts/reshet/behaviour.html Features of the state, behavior and activities of people in extreme situations with a vital threat] (natural disasters, man-made disasters, terrorist attacks). M. M. Reshetnikov.
[www.julianhermida.com/algoma/stockholm.pdf Factors Influencing the Development of the Hostage Identification Syndrome.] James T. Turner. Political Psychology, Vol.6, No.4, 1985, pp.705-711
[www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7361/426?ck=nck ABC of psychological medicine: Trauma — Mayou and Farmer 325 (7361): 426 — BMJ]
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2007). Psychological treatments that cause harm. Perspectives on Psychological Science
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2
, 53-70.
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Brewer, M. B. (1998). Experimentation in social psychology. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology
. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
[www.bps.org.uk/downloadfile.cfm?file_uuid=1B299392-7E96-C67F-D4A092C173979F33&ext=pdf Psychological Debriefing, from the British Psychological Society]. Retrieved August 31, 2010.

Debriefing in psychology

Debriefing in psychology is a technique for conducting conversations with people who have jointly experienced a tragic event or disaster. It refers to emergency psychological assistance measures and should be carried out immediately after the event has occurred. The optimal time for debriefing is considered to be 48 hours after a tragic event or stressful situation has occurred. Since after 48 hours the period of specific reactions will end, and the participants in the events themselves will find themselves in a state in which the possibility of reflection and the ability to self-analysis returns. If enough time has passed since the event, the memories will become more foggy and vague. Then they use videos or video recordings of the event.

The debriefing process involves responding in a safe and confidential environment. This process makes it possible to share impressions, feelings, reactions that are associated with the event with other participants. Thanks to the fact that participants in events encounter similar feelings and reactions in other people, it becomes easier for them to survive what happened. The feeling of abnormality and uniqueness of one’s reactions, as well as internal tension, also decreases. People receive support in a group from other members. The role of trainers in this process is to mobilize and focus the internal reserves of survivors and to prepare for the emergence of reactions or symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms or disorders.

The purpose of the debriefing is to minimize any psychological manifestations after suffering stress. And the general goal of collective discussion is to reduce psychological distress, suffering and tension. In order to achieve these goals, it is necessary to: work through impressions, feelings and reactions, explain the structure and meaning of the events that happened and reactions to them, minimize group and individual tension, reduce the feeling of abnormality and uniqueness of individual reactions.

Debriefing cannot prevent all consequences of trauma or their potential occurrence. However, with its help it is possible to prevent the development of such consequences and their intensification. This process can help you understand the causes of the condition and understand your actions that should be taken to alleviate the consequences. Therefore, a one-time specific conversation is considered both a method of psychological crisis intervention and prevention.

This method is also considered one of the most common procedures for conducting group prevention of occupational stress among workers in extreme situations (for example, for employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations).

For the most optimal and effective reduction of the undesirable consequences of professional stress, it is necessary to follow the strict procedure of this specific conversation.

There are other uses for debriefing. For example, debriefing in advertising can be used to provide an opportunity for participants to discuss and consider all the advantages and disadvantages, potential solutions to problems that do not imply a single correct solution. It is widely used as a way of training staff in general, and not just during social and psychological training.

This method can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness and optimality of training. During this procedure, participants and training presenters change their roles. In this case, feedback arises that goes from the participants to those who conduct a one-time specific conversation, and the immediate topic of the debriefing is the effects of the training, the training process and its result. Social and psychological trainings represent a kind of dialogue in which feedback plays a key role.

Debriefing and development of feedback consists in the equality of psychological positions of all participants in the process, setting up a partnership, accepting a communication partner, initiating work on self-knowledge, and forming a new understanding of the subject of communication as a result of dialogue.

Is there any point in debriefing?

So, debriefing is about preventing the onset of post-traumatic stress disorder or reducing the likelihood of PTSD.

The word “probability” immediately makes one skeptical about this method. Firstly, all preventive measures in almost any matter, especially psychological ones, are not visible. There is no way to measure the benefits of preventive measures and prove whether they helped or not.

The only way to test the effectiveness of this method is to compare the results obtained in the control and experimental groups. But there is no way to prove what would have happened otherwise specifically with these subjects, since there is no parallel reality.

Definitely, there are people for whom the debriefing helped, there are those for whom it had no effect, and there are also victims.

What is the main point of debriefing? Verbalize all your experiences, speak out, let off steam. But who said that this method is equally useful for everyone?

There are extroverts, the process of verbalization helps them, and there are introverts for whom it is easier to think about everything silently, and any vocalization only aggravates the problem in their brain. It is very strange that leading psychologists did not take into account individual personality characteristics.

Debriefing in psychology

A person feels support and inner relaxation due to the fact that he is surrounded by people who can not only sympathize, but also experience the same emotions as him.

Debriefing is considered effective in various stressful situations where psychological stress is maximum. This technique is taught to specialists who strictly adhere to the procedure.

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.

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a severe mental condition that can be caused by a traumatic situation.

Mental trauma can lead to a borderline state. It is worth separating mental and psychological trauma.

The mental one is more global, can be permanent and be inherited. Psychological - temporary, a person recovers relatively quickly after such an injury, adequacy and the ability to adapt to the external environment are preserved.

Stress disorder is characterized by constant mental return to the traumatic event. During one of these attacks, thoughts of suicide may arise, since mental anguish may be incompatible with life.

The victim tries not to return to those places that provoke memories, not to communicate with people associated with the tragic events, and to avoid any conversations on this topic.

At first, a person experiences anxiety associated with the repetition of events; he is constantly in an exciting tone, which can provoke somatic disorders and illnesses.

To treat PTSD, a combination of medications and psychotherapeutic methods is used.

The essence of the analytical conversation

Some psychological research may be potentially dangerous to humans. The experimenter sometimes uses techniques that border on morality. The subject is often not informed about many of the nuances of research, so that their indicators are as truthful, natural and objective as possible.

Since psychology is an intangible science, it seems that experiments with the psyche are pampering. In fact, the consequences can be incredibly fatal and global. If medical experiments have obvious consequences in case of failure, then psychological ones are as latent as possible, hidden.

There have been cases in experimental psychology where a boy was raised like a girl. The reason was supposedly damage to the organ during circumcision; in fact, it was an experiment by John Money, who wanted to prove that gender is the result of upbringing, not nature.

As a result, the life of the boy and girl was broken, his twin brother was in constant depression, the parents who agreed to this step attempted suicide. The main character of the experiment, who completed what he started at the age of 38, also tried to commit suicide.

To avoid broken lives, after the experiment a short conversation is held between the participant and the researcher, which helps to ensure that the subject was not harmed.

Debriefing is carried out only after potentially dangerous experiments in which there is a catch, omission or deception.

Types of debriefing

In psychology, this procedure has two types: analytical and crisis debriefing.

The first is a conversation between the experimenter and the subject. The purpose of analytical debriefing is to ensure that the participant in the experiment is not harmed or psychologically traumatized.

The crisis method is used as first aid after stressful situations. This type of debriefing is aimed at minimizing the risk of developing PTSD.

Debriefing in training

Any training is meaningless without discussing its results, i.e. no debriefing. It involves learning to reflect on past situations or experiences and to discover new ideas and discoveries. There are several periods of the debriefing process: the period of experiencing experience, sharing such experience, interpretation, generalization, application, procedural period.

Literally, debriefing is translated as questioning after a task is completed. Debriefing in training is an analysis and analysis of the experience that participants acquired in the process of completing a task or exercise during the training. The goals of the debriefing can be: withdrawal of all training participants from the analyzed or played roles, reduction of emotional stress received after performing the exercises, analysis of why exactly events turned out this way and not otherwise, identification of attitudes, feelings and changes that have arisen, correlation of gaming experience with real ones life situations; analysis of the effectiveness of participants’ actions and outlining possible “growth areas”, outlining new topics for reflection and preparation for the next training, establishing relationships with previous and subsequent trainings.

Debriefing is a mandatory key phase of the exercise. Without quality debriefing, training will be a simple set of exercises and games. There will be no practical benefit from the training.

Technically, debriefing is a series of specific questions that are asked to the participants in the process by the presenter or trainer after the exercise is completed. Such questions should be written taking into account the goals and topics of the exercises. There are trainings in which the same exercises can be used for different purposes.

Debriefing in advertising is a summary of the results and results of the training. Debriefing and development of feedback consists of collecting comments and information: what was interesting and effective during the training, what was not effective. Then the trainer summarizes what has been learned and creates motivation for further independent deeper study.

Debriefing as part of the training

In the case when debriefing is a group stress therapy, its main goal is to discuss impressions and experiences in order to mitigate the influence of a traumatic factor. If debriefing is used as training, then the discussions concern only the assimilation of the studied material and its consolidation. This is due to the fact that no form of training is perfect without subsequent discussion of its results.

Literally, the term “debriefing” can be translated as “questioning after completing a task.” Its essence lies in the fact that participants should discuss among themselves the experience that they gained during the training they recently completed.

If the training consisted of performing a specific task in which the participants received their individual roles, then the debriefing may aim to remove the entire group from these roles, reduce emotional stress, and discuss experiences. The experience gained is also touched upon, that is, the group can discuss the entire sequence of events that occurred during the training, share their views on what was happening, and understand why the action developed exactly the way it happened.

According to its technique, debriefing as part of the training consists of asking the group guiding questions that will help them better understand and consolidate the experience gained, as well as identify possible mistakes and note for themselves subsequent “zones of growth.” Thus, debriefing is a key phase necessary for any training, without which exercises can turn into a simple set of drills and games that are completely incomprehensible to most participants.