After a violent event, it is not uncommon to keep traces of the shock suffered: this is called the post-traumatic stress. Based on the principle that existing treatments in the army had shortcomings, Moshe Farchi, a former mental health officer in the Israeli army, invented a novel method of psychological “first aid” to be implemented immediately after the trauma.
Reduce feelings of helplessness
The man, now responsible for studies on stress, trauma and resilience at Tel-Haï College (Israel), also intervened in Great Britain, at the time of theattack which left 22 dead and 116 injured in Manchester on May 22. His method is also used in the medical training of Israeli soldiers. The concept is simple: it’s about reducing the feeling of powerlessness by stimulating the person who has suffered a shock. For this, it would be necessary to relaunch his reflection by asking him “concrete and factual questions to allow him to use his ability to make decisions, as simple as they are, such as taking a break or drinking water”, explains Moshe Farchi to theAFP.
This method has the advantage of being accessible to all since it only takes a few hours to master it and it is not necessary to be a doctor to apply it. Better still: it would have immediate and long-term benefits on the psychological state of people who have suffered a shock.
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