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Psychological first aid (PFA) is becoming an essential tool in community mental health and disaster response.

Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of PFA may be an important quest.

Neuroscience may help us refine PFA to externally stimulate brain regions responsible for natural resilience.

Psychological first aid (PFA) may be the first and most effective of psychological crisis interventions. Recommended by the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the American Red Cross, and the American Psychological Association, it is not only being applied in disaster settings but is also being used to expand psychological support in communities in non-disaster situations. While research has demonstrated that PFA can be effective, training in how to apply PFA would seem essential. A recent study by Watanabe and others (Watanabe et al., 2026) on the neuroscience of the resilient brain may improve the efficiency of PFA by identifying the brain regions PFA should target.

Menon's (2011) Triple Network Model proposes that three large-scale brain networks serve as the underlying neural circuits for attention and cognitive appraisal, emotion, and reactive adaptive behavior. Dysregulation of these networks is believed to be the neurological underpinning of low resilience and distress........

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