ANGER AND IRRITABILITY IN THE EMERGENCY FIELD

Anger and Irritability in the Emergency Field


When I was in my twenties, I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for a very prestigious private ambulance company. This company was very hard to get into, compared to the other companies. It was so hard to get into that no one else in my graduating class of EMT's made it in, I was the only one, and I was very lucky.

The only unfortunate thing about this company was that I was the only female. Back in those days, many men did not like females in the Emergency Field. Needless to say, there were many very cranky individuals. Looking back, and knowing what I know about stress now, I realize that many of those cranky individuals were not cranky because of me. Those individuals were cranky because they were miserable people.

Now that I am in my forties, as I look back through my years in the Emergency Field, as an EMT and as a Counselor, I realize that misery is a habit, a very stressful habit.

As I look back there were EMT's, Paramedics, Emergency Room Nurses, Emergency Room Doctors, Police Officers, and Fire fighters that were very angry and irritable. Matter of fact, I remember thinking to myself, when I first started in the field, that there were more angry and irritable people in the Emergency Field than in the general population.

I use to ask myself, "why are there so many angry emergency personnel?"

That is an excellent question, don't you think? This is not to demean or criticize Emergency Personnel, it is to discuss possibilities so that we can create solutions for those who are having a hard time with anger and irritability.

There are one of two reasons why people in the Emergency Field are angry or irritable. The first reason is that they were that way before they became a first responder. The second reason is, something happened to cause them to change who they were. What I mean by that is, something happened, whether it was a traumatic call, a critical incident, or a habit they picked up from another worker or partner, that made them angry and irritable when they were a happier person previously.

If you are in the Emergency Field and you are angry, moody, or irritable, I know from personal experience that it can be fixed. If it really matters to you why you are angry or irritable then you should definately find out. It is not necessary to know the cause to overcome it.

Although, if you have Acute Stress Disorder or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it may help to know the source of your emotional state so that the process of healing may move forward.

Never the less, if you want to overcome your negative emotional state, it is totally possible. The way we react emotionally is a habit and much like an addiction. A habit is something that we do, that is hard to stop, or we don't want to stop. An addiction, in my mind, is something that we do, that we do not believe we need to quit, or we do not believe we can quit.

The best way to change a habit or overcome an addiction is through information and education. In my store, on my website, there are many different audios that you can download that will help you learn to overcome anger or irritability.

We have free podcasts about Basic Stress Management, Critical Incident Stress Management, and Stress Relief for the Emergency Personnel.

Learning Deep Relaxation is very helpful because with practice you can learn to relax anywhere at anytime. Deep Relaxation is a very successful practice.

We have audios that help with creating positive emotions like feeling gratitude and feeling love, that will assist in overcoming the negative emotions of anger.

We also have an audio on learning to destress yourself in a minute, another exercise, when pracitced often, that will create a successful practice in order to overcome stressful habits.

And finally, our most popular audio, How to Destress Yourself. This audio is a four part class. It is designed for economic, as well as time convenience. This audio will help with basic and advanced stress management so that happiness, energy, and vitality may be created. This class helps individuals understand and overcome many negative emotions.

Well, I hope that is helpful...

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please email me elizabeth@destressyourself.com

or

comment below...

Have a great day! Have a great week! Have a great month! Have a great year! And most of all, have a great life. You got the power.

Don't forget to have fun and be playful, it's in your nature.

Elizabeth

ACUTE STRESS DISORDER; TREATMENT

Cognitive behavioral therapy is the treatment that has met with the most success in combating ASD. It has two main components: First, it aims to change cognitions, patterns of thought surrounding the traumatic incident. Second, it tries to alter behaviors in anxiety-provoking situations.

Cognitive behavioral therapy not only ameliorates the symptoms of ASD, but also it seems to prevent people from developing post-traumatic stress disorder. The chance that a person diagnosed with acute stress disorder will develop PSTD is about 80 percent; the chance that they will develop PTSD after cognitive-behavioral therapy is only about 20 percent.

Psychological debriefing and anxiety management groups are two other types of therapy that have been examined for the treatment of ASD. Psychological debriefing involves an intense therapeutic invention immediately after the trauma, so that traumatized individuals can "talk it all out." In anxiety management groups, people share coping strategies and learn to combat stress together. However, both types of therapy have proven to be largely ineffectual for the treatment of ASD.

Sources:

• American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition
• Anxiety and Its Disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic (Guilford Press)
• Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
• American Journal of Psychiatry
• Journal of Anxiety Disorders
• Journal of Traumatic Stress
• Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
• War Psychiatry: Textbook of Military Medicine
• Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• National Institute of Mental Health
• National Center for PTSD
• Department of Health & Human Services

ACUTE STRESS DISORDER; DEFINITION

Acute stress disorder develops within one month after an individual experiences or sees an event involving a threat or actual death, serious injury, or physical violation to the individual or others, and responded to this event with strong feelings of fear, helplessness or horror. The diagnosis was established to identify those individuals who would eventually develop post-traumatic stress disorder. As far back as World War I this condition was referred to as "shell shock," in which there are similarities between reactions of soldiers who suffered concussions caused by exploding bombs or shells and those who suffered blows to their central nervous systems. Civilians may also suffer from it. More recently, ASD was brought to light as it became clear that for a short period, people might exhibit PTSD-like symptoms immediately after a trauma.

Trauma has both a medical and a psychiatric definition. Medically, trauma refers to a serious or critical bodily injury, wound or shock. This definition is often associated with trauma medicine practiced in emergency rooms and represents a popular view of the term. Psychiatrically, trauma has assumed a different meaning and refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.

Psychiatric trauma, or emotional harm, is essentially a normal response to an extreme event. It involves the creation of emotional memories about the distressful event that are stored deep within the brain. In general, it is believed that the more direct the exposure to the traumatic event, the higher the risk for emotional harm. Thus in a school shooting, for example, the student who is injured probably will be most severely affected emotionally; and the student who sees a classmate shot or killed is likely to be more emotionally affected than the student who was in another part of the school when the violence occurred. But even secondhand exposure to violence can be traumatic. For this reason, all children and adolescents exposed to violence or a disaster, even if only through graphic media reports, should be watched for signs of emotional distress.

Sources:

• American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition
• Anxiety and Its Disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic (Guilford Press)
• Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
• American Journal of Psychiatry
• Journal of Anxiety Disorders
• Journal of Traumatic Stress
• Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
• War Psychiatry: Textbook of Military Medicine
• Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• National Institute of Mental Health
• National Center for PTSD
• Department of Health & Human Services

January Destress for the EMS Teleclass

This week I will be teaching the DESTRESS FOR THE EMS teleclass this Wednesday, January 28, 2009, at 7 a.m. Pacific time. All teleclasses are free, for now, and can be accessed by signing up for our free weekly newsletter.

This is one of my favorite classes to teach. I was an emergency responder for many years, I taught Critical Incident Stress Management, I responded to Critical Incidents for first responders as a peer counselor, I trained hundreds of emergency personnel to become peer counselors, and therefore I know how important stress management is for the emergency services.

It is not an easy thing to get Emergency Services Personnel to deal with there stress because they are the hero's and they are not suppose to have weaknesses. Many come to me privately. The only reason I say this is because I would want someone to come to me privately and confidentially because it is better than not getting any help at all.

I love what I do and I am excited for this week. I have taught so many of these classes that I cannot count and yet I still love doing it because I know it makes a difference.

By the way, all of our teleclasses will be one hour earlier next month due to multiple requests from the east coast as well as the west coast.

Have a great week and don't forget to have fun and be playful because it is in your nature.

Elizabeth