“Disaster Psychiatry provides a unique opportunity to witness psychiatrists using a range of skills to help others in nontraditional and flexible ways. The experience of contending with one’s own feelings in the midst of a staggering crisis and of simultaneously drawing on one’s therapeutic skills to provide help in radically unfamiliar settings -- this is the stuff of remarkable stories. In the end, the basic talent of the psychiatrists who tell these stories, their humanity, and their compassionate creativity in devising ways to help disaster victims make for compelling presentations. This book will be an invaluable learning experience for all mental health professionals willing to embrace the enormous challenges of helping others at those critical moments ‘when nightmares come true.’” Herbert Pardes, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, New York-Presbyterian Medical Centers; Former President, American Psychiatric Association |