# 5653
Today, June 27th, has been designated National PTSD Awareness Day by the Congress of the United States.
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a stress response that some people experience after a traumatic event that may include anxiety, depression, suicide, and may lead to drug and alcohol-related disorders.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has taken the lead in PTSD awareness and research, but the victims of PTSD are far more widespread than just military personnel returning from war zones.
Victims of personal violence, rescue and medical workers, victims of disasters, terrorism, physical or psychological trauma, and/or a combat zone are all at risk of PTSD.
From the National Center For PTSD today, some resources including videos on how to conduct Psychological First Aid.
Psychological First Aid: Field Operations Guide
For disaster responders
Developed jointly with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, PFA is an evidence-informed modular approach 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 for use by first responders, incident command systems, primary and emergency health care providers, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations, Community Emergency Response Teams, Medical Reserve Corps, and the Citizens Corps in diverse settings. The 5th appendix consists of Handouts for Survivors (PDF).
Online training on how to provide Psychological First Aid is available from http://learn.nctsn.org/, and you can view a series of videos about the process that are available on the PFAOnlinevideos Channel of Youtube.
