Psychological First Aid
Psychology
18-11-2023
First Aid is not necessarily a physical aid; an insightful session on ‘Psychological First Aid’ for the Psychology students
‘First Aid’ is a term that we often come across when there is an injury. But have you realised that this term is mostly associated with physical injury rather than psychological! With the objective of spreading awareness on ‘Psychological First Aid’, the Department of psychology organised a seminar on the same topic.
“The individuals associated with Psychological First Aid (PFA) are exposed to victims of disasters and disaster situations. The youngsters who are associated with PFA think of this as a social work and are often disheartened to see the behaviour of the people in crisis situation, so it is important that they are trained in these situations,” Dr. Doyel Ghosh, Clinical Psychologist and Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, IPGMER, said while interacting with the students at the seminar. Dr. Tirthankar Dasgupta, Consultant Psychiatrist, Moner Alo Mental Healthcare, was another speaker at the session who spoke about stress and the brain’s response to the various kinds of stress.
‘Rapport’ is the main thing that a psychologist needs to develop in dealing with any kind of situation. The skilled professionals in Psychology highlighted this attribute again and again in the course of the session. During the course of the seminar, the students got an idea of the key principles of PFA and how by providing immediate assistance, PFA contributes to the early emotional recovery of individuals and communities affected by adversity.
