Cooling the Flames - Amdur, Ellis

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Résumé :
People suffering from psychiatric or substance abuse disorder can display any one of a number of frightening behaviors. Ellis Amdur and John K. Murphy offer firefighters and EMTs a comprehensive set of strategies to keep themselves and their patients safe, while functioning at the highest level of professionalism. Rather than abstract information, more useful in a consulting room than in the field, Cooling the Flames is tactically based, from start to finish. The first section of this book addresses field safety, including both strategic planning and honing your intuition to pick up early signs of danger. In the second section, the authors offer specific strategies to maintain integrity and calm in crisis situations, including a method of breathing for the purpose of maintaining one's own center in crisis situations. They then discuss interventions with those displaying confusion and obsessive concerns, psychosis, mania and acute disorganization. In one very important section, they discuss interactions with manipulative people, who present a danger to the psychological and physical well being of anyone with whom they come in contact. The authors discuss suicidal patients, not only from the perspective of despondent individuals who attempt to kill themselves, but also offer strategic interventions for those who either threaten to harm themselves, or repetitively do so, requiring regular involvement of EMS, police, hospitals and the mental health system. The authors explain how to immediately recognize different modes of aggression, and then outline how to quickly and effectively implement de-escalation or control tactics best suited to deal with the type of aggression one is facing. In three essential appendices, they present protocols for physical and chemical restraint, current information on positional and compression asphyxiation (authored by Dr. Gary Vilke), and a protocol, specific to fire and EMS, on excited delirium (authored by Lt. Michael Paulus, ret.)...

Biographie:
Ellis Amdur received his BA in psychology from Yale University in 1974 and his MA in psychology from Seattle University in 1990. He is both a National Certified Counselor and a State Certified Child Mental Health Specialist. Since the late 1960s, Amdur trained in various martial arts systems, spending thirteen years studying in Japan. He is a recognized expert in classical and modern Japanese martial traditions and has authored three iconoclastic books as well as one instructional DVD on this subject. Since his return to America in 1988, Ellis Amdur has worked in the field of crisis intervention. He has developed a range of training and consultation services, as well as a unique style of assessment and psychotherapy. These are based on a combination of phenomenological psychology and the underlying philosophical premises of classical Japanese martial traditions. Amdur's professional philosophy can best be summed up in this idea: the development of an individual's integrity and dignity is the paramount virtue. This can only occur when people live courageously, regardless of the circumstances, and take responsibility for their roles in making the changes they desire. Ellis Amdur is a dynamic public speaker and trainer who presents his work throughout the United States and internationally. He is noted for his sometimes outrageous humor as well as his profound breadth of knowledge. His vivid descriptions of aggressive and mentally ill people and his true-to-life role playing of the behaviors in question give participants an almost firsthand experience of facing the real individuals in question. His books are considered unique in that he uses his own experiences, often hair-raising or outrageous, as illustrations of the principles about which he writes, but it is also backed by solid research, and boots-on-the-ground experience.