When bullets cause psychological injuries… An essential continuity of care from debriefing to follow-up

Abstract

In this work, we describe the care of people confronted with a potentially psychotraumatic event, from defusing and debriefing to follow-up, if necessary. We detail the cognitive and behavioural therapy, the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, the psychodynamic psychotherapy and, the pharmacological approach. Overcoming traumatic repetition syndrome is not achieved by forgetting, but by reconstructing the memory of an indecipherable event. In certain clinical situations, it might be useful, if not essential, to combine different psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches depending on how symptoms develop. In other words, the practitioner has to find “the right therapy, for the right patient, at the right time”.