Critical Incident Stress Debriefing and crisis groups: A review of the literature

Abstract

The concern about the psychological consequences to groups of individuals exposed to traumatic events as part of their work role has led to the introduction of a group mode of intervention for work systems called Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. However, the term “debriefing” is foreign to the language of group psychotherapy. Most journal articles and leader training workshops do not address CISD within the familiar context of group psychotherapy. This paper seeks an integration through discussion of the literature on crisis theory, group modes of crisis intervention, and the history, development, and process of CISD. It will be shown that CISD can be understood as a form of crisis group with some similarities to as well as differences from the crisis groups noted in the literature.