STRESSProfessionalCRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS, THE KILLER

CRITICAL INCIDENT STRESS, THE KILLER

Critical Incident Stress, Firehall, Fire Fighter Wellness - CRACKYL MAGAZINE
By Jeffrey Hosick PhD

When the stress doubles, we double the coping mechanisms.

Having worked with emergency services for over 20 years, I have learned a thing or two about critical incident stress.  We generally associate it as the stress coming from the collected sights, sounds, and moral dilemmas not normally faced by the regular public.  Jeffrey Mitchell, himself a former paramedic, and George Evans wrote about in the 90s and developed Critical Incident Stress Management.

When critical incident stress is left untreated for three months it becomes identified as a post traumatic injury. When left for over six months it becomes a post-traumatic stress disorder.  If our stress container holds 10 units, these ones rank 7 or more.

Many cope with the symptoms, and in coping reduce their stress from a 7/10 down to a 2 or 3/10.  If we cope with it, it’s gone, right?  It’s like we have taken a large emotional dehydrator and taken all the moisture out of it, reducing it to a powder, much like instant coffee.  Provided the powder is never re-hydrated we are good for life.  Yah, that’s the assumption.  The problem is other incidents make it impossible to keep them dehydrated.

Because we believe they are gone, we do not pay attention.  Even if we kept these stressors at 2, it only takes four 2s to make eight.  When they add together our capacity to handle more stress diminishes.

This is what I call chronic critical incident stress.  It is the kind of stress that kills us because it accumulates over time.  Unless we were aware of the symptoms, or the behaviors associated with those symptoms, we wont feel it as stress, but we are slowly turning up the temperature, cooking ourselves, our bodies and our relationships.  Notice it parallels the stages of how a fire moves from incipient to growth, then fully involved, then decay.

Many of my brother and sister first responders ignore the symptoms because coping mechanisms work so well.  When the stress doubles, we double the coping mechanisms.  The short term solution has become a permanent fixture. Over a period of time, our mental health deteriorates as the stress accumulates.  Then, before we realize it, our mental health is like a fully involved fire.  If we are leaders in the fire service and if we do not stop responding to alarms, we lean more and more on adrenaline to pull us through.  If adrenaline is the heat, our unprocessed stress the fuel, we intuitively eliminate reflection, the air.  High heat, high heat, no air is dangerous for us.  We have produced an emotional back-draft.  One slight critical incident produces a crack in a window or a door.  We know what happens next, we explode and everything flammable combusts simultaneously.

See if you recognize any of these symptoms.  Lack of Focus / Hyper Focus; Inability to concentrate; insomnia – either having a tough time getting to sleep or bouncing up at 3 am and not getting back to sleep, Not eating / eating everything in the cupboard, headaches, nausea, lack of interest in sex, anxiety, irritability, depression, isolation, guilt and flashbacks.  One question I am asked frequently, Many of us face these symptoms, how do we know it is chronic critical incident stress, and not just a response to everyday life.

That question hits the nail right on the head. The easiest way to notice a build up is to watch for how much capacity remains.  If you having a difficult time with a situation or person which normally requires 3/10 energy, the immediate answer may be to push through, but more importantly you are running out of room.  Time to make a pit stop. We want you to finish the race.

Jeffery Hosick PhD- Psychotherapist, Fire Department Chaplain, Trauma Specialist, Author, Professional Speaker and Firefighter

Photo By Nikko Macaspac

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