Psychological First-aid Beginning: PFA is not a new intervention. Rather, it is better conceptualized as documenting and operationalizing good common sense – those activities that sensible, caring human beings would do for each other anyway. The term Psychological First Aid was first coined by Drayer, Cameron, Woodward, and Glass (1954) in a manuscript they wrote for the American Psychiatric Association on request of the U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administration. The purpose of the manuscript was to provide guidance for managing in the aftermath of community disasters. By the 1970s the principles and foundations of crisis (psychological) intervention were being utilized in disaster work with adults. By 1990 emergency organizations such as the Danish Red Cross were applying the principles as a preferred model for early intervention following exposure to a traumatic event. The principles have continued to gain widespread international acceptance, culminating in their inclusion in international guidelines.
WHO PFA is for distressed people who have been recently exposed to a serious crisis event. You can provide help to both children and adults. In Egypt one of the places that give PFA is "Red Crescent". However, not everyone who experiences a crisis event will need or want PFA. Don't force help on people who do not want it, but make yourself easily available to those who may want support. There may be situations when someone needs much more advanced support than PFA alone. Know your limits and get help from others, such as medical personnel (if available), your colleagues or other people in the area, local authorities, or community and religious leaders. In the following box we have listed people who need more immediate advanced support. People in these situations need medical or other help as a priority to save life.
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