Disasters: Psychologic responses in health care providers and rescue workers

Health care providers and rescue workers are often the hidden victims of trauma. To investigate the psychologic responses of these groups to traumatic stress, we studied health care and rescue workers involved in the 1989 air show disaster at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. We review reports from descriptive questionnaire data. The reports identified two types of disaster experience that were prominent: exposure to the grotesque, and no participation in the disaster relief efforts. Responses to debriefing are examined. The reports identified three characteristic responses: identification, sense of helplessness and inadequacy, and psychologic distancing. Further empirical study of these areas is needed.