About this Research Topic

Background

The mental health consequences left behind by intentionally engineered major events for emergency responders are more severe than those caused by accidents or natural disasters. The same applies to the mental health of soldiers during attacks and firefighters in foreign military operations. Therefore, different, individual preparations and follow-ups are necessary in order to minimize accompanying mental health reactions. Differentiation of these mental health effects according to occupational groups, gender, event, and other accompanying factors such as spatial and temporal proximity to the event, equipment, tasks performed on site (clearly regulated, professional affiliation, etc.), personal impact, and other factors, are necessary.

Various studies have shown that emergency responders from different professions react differently to a major attack. However, the reactions of the emergency services to a terrorist attack or an incident involving an attacker killing multiple people have so far only been examined to a limited extent outside of the United States. Most studies have focused on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the range of mental health effects is far wider.

There are numerous publications on the psychological effects of disasters on emergency responders, yet there is comparatively little systematic investigation of gender or occupational group differences. Again, the results are often inconsistent. The data on whether the length of professional experience represents a resilience or a vulnerability factor is controversial. In addition, the distinction between professional and volunteer rescuers showed controversial results in the prevalence of PTSD.

In this Research Topic, we invite articles related to the mental health of emergency responders (such as police, firefighters, military, ambulance, etc.) after intentional and accidental disasters. We particularly encourage contributions focused on, but not limited to, areas that have not previously been adequately covered, e.g.:
• the impact of proximity to the event (spatial and temporal)
• equipment
• deployment preparation
• crisis intervention
• occupational group
• gender
• personal risk assessment and personal injury
• task on site
• media coverage
• risk and resilience factors
• seniority
• experience of previous critical events.

More research in these areas could lead to better pre- and post-deployment training, more personalized crisis intervention, and de-stigmatization.

Hubertus Himmerich has received research support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and from COMPASS Pathfinder Ltd. He receives salary support from the NIHR Mental Health Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London.

Keywords: deployment, disaster, emergency, mental health, resilience, crisis intervention, PTSD

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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