When we hear Critical Incident Stress Management we often think of
Emergency Personnel and the trauma that they experience. Even if you are not an emergency worker you
can still experience a Critical Incident.
A Critical Incident may be defined as a traumatic event that affects a
person's ability to cope with normal life.
For example, with emergency personnel they deal with death, injury, or
dying in a very gruesome way and then they may have some signs and symptoms
like the inability to sleep, the inability to remove the gruesome image from
their mind, or they may experience depression, anger, or withdrawal. These events would most likely obstruct a
person's ability to function in every day life. Everyone reacts differently so a Critical Incident is most likely
to be defined by the person's reaction.
Some Critical Incidents that may occur for individuals that are not
emergency personnel are witnessing a robbery gone bad, violence in the work
place, someone dying in the workplace, or a traumatic event in the
workplace. Some critical incidents may
also occur outside the place of work for example, a witnessed accident that
causes death, dismemberment, or shocking images, witnessing a violent act, or
watching someone die or be murdered.
If you have experienced a traumatic event and you are having a difficult
time dealing with it you may be suffering from a Critical Incident. If you are experiencing a Critical Incident it
is very important that you seek help.
Some places to go would be an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a
church leader, or information sources similar to the phone book and the
Internet, under Critical Incident Stress Management. When we experience a Critical Incident it is crucial that we seek
someone that is trained in responding to a Critical Incident because it is not
therapy, it is an educational process that assists us in overcoming any signs
and symptoms we may be experiencing.
Therefore, when we seek help it is very wise to seek someone trained in
Critical Incident Stress Management.
After you seek help, know that whatever negative signs or symptoms you
are experiencing are probably very normal.
The critical incident or trauma that you experienced is quite possibly
not normal for a person to observe and therefore you may be affected.
In addition to seeking help we can take an active roll in taking care of
ourselves for instance, eat right, exercise, and get plenty of rest. Also, be conscious of not increasing any
addiction to caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. And finally, talk to someone close to you. It won't be necessary to share the gory details,
basically don't keep it inside because it may eat you up.
Caution, if you do not seek help your signs and symptoms may linger
longer than necessary and your ability to function in every day life may be
drastically affected. When signs and
symptoms remain they may eventually become who you are and if you can't take care
of yourself then you cannot take care of anyone else.
Elizabeth
Stanfill, Managing Director of Destress
Yourself, is an authority and expert in Critical Incident Stress
Management, General Stress Management, and Overcoming Burnout. She specializes in teaching individuals to
discover the stressful habits that are holding them back in life and changing
these habits into successful practices that create explosive jumps in personal
and professional performance. For
more free information about Destressing Yourself please sign up for our free Destress
Yourself Newsletter and receive free admission to our monthly Destress
Yourself teleclass, http://www.destressyourself.com, or visit our stress relief blog,
http://stressreliefblog.muxgo.com/
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