Lifeguards can be exposed to stressful situations on duty – a rescue operation does not always end well. What’s next for you after the stressful assignment?
“Many emergency services suffer from stress symptoms immediately after the deployment,” says Katharina Leichauer from the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) – she is the Federal Commissioner for Psychosocial Emergency Care (PSNV). According to Leichauer, the symptoms usually subside within a few days to weeks.
Which deployment is experienced as very stressful varies from person to person. “So operations are experienced as stressful where a connection to one’s own life can be established, for example an accident with children if one has just become a mother or father. Or if the victim had an accident at a similar age or under similar circumstances.” , explains Leichauer. Burdens could also accumulate when deaths or private events accumulate after a deployment.
Psychological training and aftercare
How the rescue worker then proceeds depends on the respective load. “After a stressful operation, the regionally responsible aftercare team is usually alerted,” says Leichauer. In some cases, for example, so-called group follow-up measures or one-on-one interviews followed. Follow-up care over a longer period of weeks is only the case for very few, and short-term therapy is usually sufficient. “In the case of particularly stressed emergency services, a referral to a registered psychotherapist takes place.”
However, the forces would also be psychologically trained before they were deployed – for example during training. “Just preparing for the symptoms that can occur after a mission has a protective effect,” says Leichauer. This gave them “confidence in dealing with the situations”.
If an emergency responder has a restless night after an operation and is constantly confronted with the images, it helps to know that this reaction is normal and is part of the processing of the traumatic situation. “Knowing that you’re not “going crazy” also protects you from the development of other disorders,” says Leichauer.
