By Clayton Barnes
Pretoria News (South Africa)
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — About a quarter of all emergency workers — including police, traffic officers, paramedics and firefighters — suffer from severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress, delegates attending the second International Road Traffic Accident and Reconstruction Conference in Cape Town have heard.
During a session on the effects of trauma on emergency workers, psychologist Mike Lacey-Smith said most of those affected were men, because they were more likely to bottle up their emotions which “explode” later in life.
He said research showed that most men believed they could just move on after seeing a decapitated body or a corpse burnt beyond recognition.
“People try to avoid the reality of the situation and trauma by blocking it out or putting it into a box,” said Lacey-Smith. “However, the only problem is, there is no box. Whatever is stored builds up over time and will result in post-traumatic stress syndrome.”
Without a debriefing or a talk with colleagues, friends or family after a traumatic incident, it was almost guaranteed that an emergency worker would eventually suffer from depression or stress.
“People should realise these people are human beings,” he said. “They cry, have families and often struggle to deal with trauma.”
The first thing most emergency workers did when they got home after a rough day was to have a drink. “This should be avoided at all costs,” Lacey-Smith said.
“Rather call a colleague, speak to your superiors to arrange a psychologist or call a reliable friend who understands what you are going through. Drugs and alcohol can entrench the imagery after visiting a horrific murder scene or car crash.”
Lacey-Smith said critical stress debriefings should take place within 72 hours of the emergency worker returning from the scene of an accident. “Alcohol works for a while, as everything is pushed to the background, but reality often catches up with you, resulting in an unhealthy family life, ill health and in extreme cases - even suicide,” Lacey-Smith said.
Superintendent Rob Askew, a member of the visible policing division, said emergency workers often did not recognise the significance of debriefing. He said every policeman was given a 24-hour trauma number to call for debriefing and counselling, but their male egos almost always got the better of them.
“They simply have too much pride and don’t recognise that bottling everything up could destroy their careers and lives.”
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