Episode 4: Jonestown: The Recovery Effort, Secondary Trauma Victims and PTSD

Society’s understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder was limited in 1978 and associated almost exclusively with wartime experiences, falling under the umbrella of what was often thought of as “shell shock.” Even less was known about the impact a mass casualty recovery mission would have on first responders. A smattering of studies had been done by the military on nurses, for example, but the literature was sparse.

Jonestown was a more massacre than mass suicide and the recovery effort was daunting. After the US Air Force and volunteers recovered the over 900 bodies from the Guyanese jungle the USAF knew they needed to find out how the first responders coped. 

https://time.com/longform/jonestown-aftermath/

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OapPeL-69Ns

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Section-1-has-referrals.pdf