It is impossible for most of us to fully understand what the families and friends of those who died or were injured in Monday’s terror attack are going through. Our brains naturally try to make sense of what happened but in this kind of atrocity,...
When something happens that is threatening, distressing and unexpected, most people will experience a reaction that can be unpleasant, disturbing and potentially overwhelming. Just as, if you are physically hit, you bruise, so an emotional or psychological shock can have an impact that takes time...
The symptoms of post traumatic stress are part of the body and brain’s response to threat. They are intended to keep the individual physically ready to deal with further threat and this can continue until the brain has switched off the alarm system. Unfortunately, reminders of...
When something happens that is highly distressing and unexpected, most people will experience a reaction that can be unpleasant, disturbing and potentially overwhelming. In the majority of cases, this reaction will subside over time as we gradually come to terms with the experience and its effects. Common...
For some organisations, it’s inevitable their workers will face critical incidents. It’s also inevitable that someone will be left dealing with the people aspects of business continuity and impact of human distress on day to day operations. If that person is you, you could be dealing with: Pressurised...
We often use the term “critical incident” rather than “traumatic incident” to reflect the subjective nature of trauma. A critical incident is an opportunity to consider the impact of an event. After all, it is the human reaction that we are managing. The International Critical...
When working with people who have traumatic stress reactions, mental health professionals have always emphasised the importance of practicing slow, controlled, mindful breathing as a way to induce calm and suppress emotional disturbance and panic attacks. A recent study by Yackle et al, published in Science...
The media have recently picked up on research that explored this and it is probably one of the questions we are being asked most frequently at the moment. It’s certainly an interesting study. Following a traumatic event, many people experience intrusive symptoms. These can include having disturbing...