The "rescue personality" was described by CISM/CISD founder Jeff Mitchell, PhD. His model postulated that EMS providers and fire department personnel were different from the rest of the population and hence the need for CISM/CISD. Mitchell described the "rescue personality" in an issue of JEMS and Fire Engineering. However, when mainstream researchers asked to see his data--it was somehow lost in an office move and could never be found. In the current issue of  The Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma studies Canadian psychologist Shannon Wagner studied the concept for a "rescue personality" and found no evidence it exists.

She wrote, "Mitchell and Bray (1990) describe emergency response workers as inner-directed, action oriented, obsessed with high standards of performance, traditional, socially conservative, easily bored, and highly dedicated. In addition, these authors describe emergency workers as people who like control, both of the situation and themselves, and enjoy being needed. Further, Mitchell (1988) suggests that in order to effectively implement CISD, a mental health professional must be aware of "the unique personalities of emergency personnel and the special jobs they perform" (p. 43).

Currently, the evidence of benefit, or lack thereof, for the CISD has been the source of much debate (e.g., McNally, Bryant, & Ehlers, 2003; Jacobs, 2004). Although the efficacy of the CISD is not the focus of the current discussion, the efficacy debate is nonetheless contingent on the issue of the so-called rescue personality and its consequent existence. If the rescue personality is not a definable and evident aspect of those who choose to participate in the emergency response services, one of the primary principles that comprise the foundation for the CISD will be abandoned." She concluded, "

The existence of a rescue personality is a fundamental tenet for a very controversial method of intervention. Given this personality type's important role within the field of emergency service mental health, it is a serious detriment to researchers, practitioners, and emergency response service workers alike, that the question of its existence has not been adequately addressed. The potential effectiveness of the CISD with fire, emergency medical, and police service workers is theoretically dependent on these individuals being a homogenous, but independent, group. Specifically, within the emergency services this homogeneity is, in part, assumed to be reflected in the rescue personality, a personality that is purported to characterize the type of individual who chooses to perform rescue-related work. Currently, there is little evidence for a distinct personality type that is reflective of emergency service workers as a whole."

The only people believing in the CISM/CISD pablum are those who fail to recognize the overwhelming science and it will only take litigation and some  check writing to get them to stop.

For the full article:

http://www.massey.ac.nz/~trauma/issues/2005-2/wagner.htm