Giving intensive counselling to survivors of traumatic incidents may cause more harm than good, according to a group of researchers.

The Institute for Employment Studies thinktank says encouraging people to talk about tragedies they have been involved in can increase the trauma of the original incident.

All the emergency services, and many commercial companies, have experts in place to offer counselling following major accidents.

It has been used following tragedies such as the Paddington rail disaster and the Zeebrugge ferry sinking.

This often includes a debriefing session. But researchers from the IES are questioning the use of such counselling.

In a paper to be presented to a conference in Brighton on Wednesday, they say evidence of studies suggests that, at best, the counselling makes no difference to the victim, and at worst can actually worsen the trauma.

Deepen the damage

By forcing the victim to relive the event, the Institute says, debriefing sessions could deepen the psychological damage suffered.

The researchers say there is a place for counselling, but that its use needs to be much more selective.

Dr Jo Rick, who co-wrote the study, said: "We are not suggesting for an instant that talking about things or that counselling per se are bad.

"We are talking about a very specific form of intervention, it is this one session lasting up to about three hours, normally within a couple of days of someone experiencing a traumatic event that goes in very great detail through how they were thinking and feeling during their experience.

"It is that intensity of the re-living of the experience that we think might be problematic."

Dr Rick said other forms of counselling which helped people come to terms with events gradually were highly beneficial