ABSTRACT

This chapter outlines a theoretical framework that provides a basis for the practice of Integrative Group Treatment with disaster workers and present examples of this concept in operational settings. Disaster workers include rescue workers and emergency medical personnel who are predictably exposed to disasters and their associated traumatic stressors in the line of duty. Disasters stress homeostasis at every system level from the individual to the organizational and community levels. The most fundamental type of stress to which disaster workers are exposed is physiological. Demands on disaster workers include long hours, irregular sleep cycles, poor access to potable water and food supplies, inadequate protection from the elements, and prolonged isolation from organizing information. Disaster workers may also experience role conflict when their personal needs or reactions conflict with the demands of the organizational task. Intra- or Interorganizational conflict can also result after a disaster and such conflict can decrease the overall efficiency of the organizational effort.