Reflections on Providing Single-Session Therapy in Post-Disaster Haiti

This chapter continues the on-going discussion of the adaptation of single-session therapy (SST) to acute emergency settings. It proposes that SST could be a viable treatment response post-disaster in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) to balance limited resources with the fact that psychological distress for some individuals continues long after the acute emergency stage. According to Leaning and Guha-Sapir, the scale of disasters has expanded, owing to increased rates of urbanization, deforestation, environmental degradation, and intensifying climate variables such as higher temperatures, extreme precipitation, and more violent wind/water storms. SST is an established mental-health intervention and has been used by mental-health professionals for more than forty years as a treatment of choice when the understanding between the therapist and the client is that a single-session may be the only response feasible. Many LMICs have underdeveloped mental-health care systems with limited capacities before the onset of a disaster.