Resource List for Health Care Professionals

The following is a list of publications, Web sites and organizations providing information for health care professionals assisting patients and clients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide
This publication was developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The document provides guidance for assisting people in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism to reduce initial distress, and to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning. It is provided for use by mental health specialists including first responders, incident command systems, primary and emergency health care professionals, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations, Community Emergency Response Teams, Medical Reserve Corps, and the Citizens Corps in diverse settings.

National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Disaster handouts and fact sheets, Psychological First Aid Manual, PTSD video materials, information for women's medical providers, Women's Health Sciences Division
The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was created in 1989 as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Center promotes research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders. Online educational resources on the Center's Web site discuss PTSD and other enduring consequences of traumatic stress. Fact sheets for doctors and other medical providers cover normal stress reactions after a disaster, more severe reactions, and risk factors; the psychosocial treatment of disaster-related mental health problems; the pharmacologic treatment of acute stress reactions; and assessing and responding to suicidal intent. Many other publications and links for a better understanding of disaster trauma and response, including information aimed at specific groups, are also available.

USU Hurricane Disaster Care Resources
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences was created by Congress in 1972 to be an academic health center for the military and to provide a center of excellence in military medicine and public health in peace and war, fostering the study of "how to care for those in harm's way." The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, a part of the University's Department of Psychiatry, provides hurricane disaster care information on its Web site, including resource links and fact sheets for health care professionals and relief workers on mental health care; stress management; assessment, intervention and treatment of disaster victims; and psychological first aid.

American Psychological Association
1-800-374-2721
The American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. On its Web site, APA provides information and resources for psychologists treating patients suffering from post traumatic stress, information on APA hurricane relief activities and an online consumer help center with both English- and Spanish-language materials.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publications on stress and anxiety and disaster/trauma
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services provides online publications for health care professionals, as well as consumers. Topics for health care professionals include creating trauma services for women with co-occurring disorders; developing cultural competence in disaster mental health disorders; disaster counseling; stress prevention and management approaches for rescue workers; and risk communication guidelines for public officials.

The International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS)
847-480-9028
ISTSS was founded in 1985 for professionals to share information about the effects of trauma. The Society sponsors an annual educational meeting and publishes the Journal of Traumatic Stress, practice guidelines on the treatment of PSTD, other educational materials for clinicians and other health care professionals working with traumatized individuals, and public education pamphlets from an international perspective on trauma-related issues.

The Sidran Institute
The Sidran Institute is a national nonprofit organization founded to help people who have experienced traumatic life events. This organization provides an online glossary defining frequently-used terms in the field of traumatic stress disorders.