Debriefing Red Cross disaster personnel: The multiple stressor debriefing model

During the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, Red Cross disaster personnel were involved in providing services which put them at risk for developing stress reactions including Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. This article describes the disaster relief effort in San Francisco and Oakland made by Red Cross workers and the debriefing which was provided to these personnel. Mitchell's Model for Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) was modified to fit the broad spectrum of needs and stresses experienced by disaster relief personnel. The Multiple Stressor Debriefing Model (MSDM) which evolved from this experience is discussed with specific recommendations for mental health workers involved in Debriefing Red Cross and other emergency personnel who face multiple stressors over an extended period of relief operations.     

Minimally invasive orbital decompression for Graves' ophthalmopathy

We reviewed a 7-year experience at a tertiary-care, academic medical center with balanced, minimally invasive decompression for Graves' ophthalmopathy, in an effort to define the goals, risks, and outcomes of surgical intervention. Endoscopic medial decompression was performed in 26 patients; 23 underwent lateral decompression as well, and 13 also had inferior decompression. Septoplasty, turbinate reduction, and orbital rim augmentation were performed as needed. The indications for surgery were threat to vision (n = 10) and proptosis with a desire to return to the predisease state (rehabilitative, n = 16). The exophthalmos improved by a mean of 4.4 mm (p < .001). All patients who had surgery for threatened vision had improved vision after the operation. There were 3 patients with new-onset postoperative diplopia, 2 of whom underwent strabismus surgery. There was 1 case of postoperative sinusitis, which resolved with oral antibiotics and nasal decongestion, and 1 case of transient ulnar neuropathy. There were no other intraoperative or postoperative complications. Modern methods of orbital decompression provide a minimally invasive, effective, and relatively safe approach to the treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy.     

Clinical experience with an artificial spermatocele

Artificial spermatoceles were implanted into three patients with congenital absence of the vas. In each case, the testicular biopsy demonstrated normal spermatogenesis, and the dilated epididymal tubule was packed with spermatozoa. The ciliated epididymal mucosa appeared normal despite the tubular dilatation. The spermatoceles were constructed of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, and they were microsurgically implanted over the cut end of the epididymis. The grafts were aspirated monthly for up to six months, and the aspirates containing spermatozoa were used for artificial insemination. Spermatozoa were consistently retrieved from each patient, but no pregnancies have resulted. The most obvious finding was that the spermatozoa lacked motility. In the discussion, other problems related to artificial spermatoceles are reviewed, including epididymal development and sperm maturation, aspiration techniques, and sperm storage.     

Preoperative urography in hypotensive patients with severe trauma

In hypotensive patients with severe trauma including renal injuries, the preoperative urogram is generally of poor quality. In many instances these patients are taken to the operating room with no films at all. We have proposed a protocol for the resuscitation of severely injured patients, following which we performed a carefully monitored high-dosage urogram. We demonstrated in 16 patients that diagnostic films can be obtained even in severely injured patients who were initially in shock.     

An estimate of the fertility potential of the fractions of the split ejaculate in terms of the motile sperm count.

The motile sperm count is a simple index which is equivalent to the product of sperm density (millions of sperm per milliliter) and percentage of motility (motile sperm per 100 sperm x 0.01). Since other studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between this index and the pregnancy rate, it has been hypothesized that the motile sperm count could be useful for expressing the potential fertility of individual semen specimens. Collection of semen by the split ejaculate technique and subsequent artificial insemination homologous (AIH) with the best split fraction has been used for the treatment of oligospermia. We calculated the motile sperm count for whole semen and the first fraction of split ejaculates from 45 men who were studied for infertility. Subsequently, 15 couples agreed to AIH with the first fraction of the split ejaculate. The data indicate that the motile sperm count may be a reasonable index for comparing the potential fertility of the semen specimens and thereby estimating the chances of successful AIH.     

A case of female transsexualism

Summary A case of transsexualism in a female before and after surgical treatment is presented, including history, examination and results of psychological testing. A brief review of the literature is given and salient features are discussed.From the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, this paper was submitted to theQuarterly on December 26, 1969.     

Strategies of therapeutic contact: working with children with severe object relationship disturbance

This article discusses the strategies for making contact with severely disturbed children from the viewpoint of developmental ego psychology. Four stages of object development are described and the strategies for making contact at the various levels of impairment are explained in detail.     

Effects of gender and ethnicity on duty-related posttraumatic stress symptoms among urban police officers

We studied 655 urban police officers (21% female, 48% white, 24% black, and 28% Hispanic) to assess ethnic and gender differences in duty-related symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We obtained self-report measures of: a) PTSD symptoms, b) peritraumatic dissociation, c) exposure to duty-related critical incidents, d) general psychiatric symptoms, e) response bias due to social desirability, and f) demographic variables. We found that self-identified Hispanic-American officers evidenced greater PTSD symptoms than both self-identified European-American and self-identified African-American officers. These effects were small in size but they persisted even after controlling for differences in other relevant variables. Contrary to expectation, we found no gender differences in PTSD symptoms. Our findings are of note because: a) they replicate a previous finding of greater PTSD among Hispanic-American military personnel and b) they fail to replicate the well-established finding of greater PTSD symptoms among civilian women.