REACTIONS TO PERSONAL CRISIS

How you may feel emotionally after a traumatic incident.

Professional People

• Used to dealing with crises

• Able to stand back

• Self control

• Role boundaries

• Human!

• Emotions

• Feelings

• Personal Life

• Caring people

Understandable reactions to abnormal events. Although intense and difficult to put up with, these are the way ordinary people can feel.

Normal set of responses to an abnormal occurrence.

Definitions:

• TRAUMA - ‘a powerful shock that may

have long-lasting consequences’.[OED]

• POST TRAUMA STRESS - ‘The normal

reactions of normal people to events which,

for them, are unusual or abnormal’

Definitions:

• POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER - ‘The development of certain characteristic symptoms following a psychologically distressing event which is outside the range of normal human experience’ [DSM IVR]

Beginning of transitionTIME

MO

OD

NUMBNESS

DENIAL

INTERNALISATION

SEARCH FOR MEANING

DEPRESSION

[ANGER]

ACCEPTANCE OF REALITY/LETTING

GO

TESTING

Seven stages of Transition

Basic Beliefs

• Invulnerability - ‘bad things happen to

other people’

• Meaning & purpose - the reason to live

and carry on. Life makes sense.

• Self-respect (image,esteem,confidence)

- ‘I’m OK’, value

In the first weeks and months

• Re-experiencing incident• Flashbacks & Dreams• Sadness• Anger• Numbness• Helplessness• Shame & Guilt• Fear. Living on borrowed time

Effects on your body

• Tiredness and exhaustion• Racing heart and ‘shakes’• Rapid breathing• Profuse sweating• Headaches, neck and backache• Tightness in throat and chest• Gastro-intestinal problems• Sleep problems

In the longer term

• Loss of interest

• Loss of confidence

• Personality change

• Avoidance behaviour

• Inappropriate behaviour

• Excessive smoking or drinking

• Relationship difficulties

Trauma Support Programme

• legitimises the impact of trauma;

• acknowledges organisational

responsibility;

• provides appropriate and effective

support.

Critical Incident Review - Facts

• Before the Incident

• During the Incident

• After The Incident

Critical Incident Review - Feelings

• Feelings experienced during the

incident

• Sensory Impressions

• Emotional Reactions

• Feelings

Critical Incident Review - Future

• Normalisation

• Information

• Recommendations

• When to seek help

• Support

• Personal care

Appropriate Intervention

• Critical Incident Review

• Counselling

• GP / Force Medical Officer

• Referral to Psychiatric Service

• Evaluation and Monitoring

‘Each man must find within himself the various methods to contain and control the pain and confusion within. There are no ready-made answers. It is a slow process of rediscovery, where denial or flight from inward turmoil is the antithesis of self-healing. We go that road alone. We may be helped but we cannot be pushed or misdirected. We each have the power within us to re-humanise ourselves. We are our own self healers.’

Brian Keenan, The Guardian 09/08/91 following the release of fellow hostage John McCarthy