[Secondary Prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder: challenging psychological debriefings]

This paper examines the efficacy of secondary prevention procedures following a trauma (psychological debriefing). After examining psychological processes leading to the onset of PSTD, 3 prevention procedures are presented: the CISD of Mitchell, the debriefing procedure of Brom and Kleber, and a cognitive and behavioral debriefing procedure. Outcome studies of these procedures are reviewed. They suggest that CISD has no proven efficacy, while the cognitive and behavioral debriefing procedure significantly decreases the probability of onset of PTSD following a trauma. Guidelines are provided for designing optimal debriefing procedures