Prehospital and Disaster Medicine

Table of Contents
VOLUME 19, NUMBER 1
January – March 2004

Editor’s Corner
The Forgotten Many . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Marvin L. Birnbaum, MD, PhD

SPECIAL ISSUE: PSYCHOSOCIAL THEMES
Issue Editor: Gloria Leon, PhD
Co-Editor: Melissa Polusny, PhD

Introduction and Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 2
Gloria R. Leon, PhD, Melissa A. Polusny, PhD

Special Reports
Part I—Adults, Children, and Adolescents
Overview of the Psychosocial Impact of Disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Gloria R. Leon, PhD

Psychological Impact of Disasters and Terrorism on Children and Adolescents:
Experiences from Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Sally Wooding, PhD, Beverley Raphael, MD

Understanding and Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Children following Disasters . . . . . . . . . . 21
Robin H. Gurwitch, PhD, Michelle Kees, PhD, Steven M. Becker, PhD,Merritt Schreiber, PhD,
Betty Pfefferbaum, MD, JD, Dickson Diamond,MD

Part II—Prevention, Response and Treatment
Minimizing Casualties in Biological and Chemical Threats (War and Terror):The Importance of
Information to the Public in a Prevention Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Shabtai Noy, PhD

The Traumatic Process: Conceptualization and Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Shabtai Noy, PhD

Integration of Disaster Mental Health Services with Emergency Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Josef I. Ruzek, PhD, Bruce H. Young, LCSW, Matthew J. Cordova, PhD, Brian W. Flynn, EdD

Disaster and Terrorism: Cognitive—Behavioral Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Robyn D.Walser, PhD, Josef I. Ruzek, PhD, Amy E. Naugle, PhD, Christine Padesky, PhD,
Diana M. Ronell, PhD, Ken Ruggiero, PhD

The Acute Psychological Impact of Disaster and Large-Scale Trauma: Limitations of Traditional
Interventions and Future Practice Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Matt J. Gray, PhD, Shira Maguen, PhD, Brett T. Litz, PhD

Vicarious Traumatization: Potential Hazards and Interventions for Disaster and Trauma Worker. . . . . . . .73
Kathleen M. Palm, PhD,Melissa A. Polusny, PhD, Victoria M. Follette, PhD

Part II—Specific Program Descriptions
Disaster Intervention: Long-term Psychosocial Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Louis M. Najarian, MD

The Information and Support Centre: Preventing After-effects of Disaster Trauma . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 86
Lars Weisæth, MD

Part III—Refugee Groups
Challenges Facing Mental Health Programs for Post-conflict and Refugee Communities . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 90
Derrick Silove, FRANZCP,MD

An Approach to Understanding Local Concepts of Mental Health as a Basis for Post-Disaster Mental
Health Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Paul Bolton, MB, BS

Part IV—Empirical Articles
Ethnic Differences in Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Lawrence Palinkas, PhD, John S. Petterson, PhD, John C. Russell, PhD, Michael A. Downs, PhD

The San Diego East County School Shootings: A Qualitative Study of Community Level
Post-traumatic Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 113
Lawrence A. Palinkas, PhD, Erica Prussing, PhD,MPH, Vivian M. Reznik, MD,MPH,
John A. Landsverk, PhD

Risk Factors for Adolescent Alcohol Use Following a Natural Disaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Janine M. Schroeder, MA, Melissa A. Polusny, PhD