ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon the observations made throughout the volume’s 16 chapters to support a thesis regarding professional responsibilities. It is argued that since 1) there is a critical mass of scientific knowledge about the emotional consequences of traumatic events, which 2) enables professionals to anticipate traumatic and post-traumatic stress in certain persons, and 3) to develop and implement intervention programs to ameliorate, if not prevent post-traumatic stress disorders, it is unethical to maintain the status quo. It is the responsibility of everyone in a position influencing the welfare of victims of traumatic events, the chapter argues, to decrease the extraordinary emotional ordeal in the wake of these events. The first section of the chapter presents a model of the immediate and long-term consequences of traumatic events, drawing upon the empirical evidence presented throughout the volume and elsewhere. The second section notes the implications of the model for 1) intervention programs focused on traumatic stress (both acute and chronic types); 2) programs to prevent traumatic and post-traumatic stress, including public information; 3) training programs for professionals and paraprofessionals; and 4) social policies which recognize and address the consequences of traumatic events, especially those which are due to human errors or malice. The final section is a special plea for the plight of the victim of violent crimes and the victimized family: Their special struggles take place not only against the recognized victimizer, the criminal, but also those individuals and institutions responsible to the victim, such as law enforcement, criminal justice, and various social service systems.
