Identifying, describing, and expressing emotions after critical incidents in paramedics

Journal of Traumatic Stress
Janice HalpernMaria Gurevich

Abstract

For paramedics, critical incidents evoke intense emotions and may result in later psychological difficulties. We examined 2 ways to deal with emotions after critical incidents: (a) identifying emotions, and (b) describing and expressing emotions, and their association with recovery from acute stress and psychological symptoms. We surveyed 190 paramedics, examining how impaired capacity to identify and describe emotions (alexithymia) and voluntary expression of emotions during contacts with others in the first 24 hours after the incident were associated with recovery from acute stress and current symptoms of PTSD, depression, burnout, and somatization. Overall alexithymia was not associated with recovery, but the component of difficulty identifying feelings was associated with prolonged physical arousal (χ(2) = 10.1, p = .007). Overall alexithymia and all its components were associated with virtually all current symptoms (correlation coefficients .23-.38, p < .05). Voluntary emotional expression was unrelated to current symptoms. Greater emotional expression was related to greater perceived helpfulness of contacts (χ(2) = 56.8, p < .001). This suggests that identifying emotions may be important in managing occupational stress in...Continue Reading

References

Aug 1, 1997·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·I V CarlierB P Gersons
Dec 1, 1999·Journal of Psychosomatic Research·H DevineM C Watt
Jan 3, 2001·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·D A Alexander, S Klein
Aug 2, 2001·Behaviour Research and Therapy·R A Bryant, P Panasetis
Dec 18, 2002·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·Colin A Wastell
Aug 23, 2003·Journal of Psychosomatic Research·James D A ParkerR Michael Bagby
Mar 29, 2005·The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry·Cheryl RegehrJudy Hughes
Jun 22, 2006·Journal of Traumatic Stress·Shannon E McCaslinCharles R Marmar
Aug 2, 2006·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·Marit SijbrandijBerthold P R Gersons
Aug 11, 2006·Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics·W de VenteP M G Emmelkamp
Jun 17, 2008·Journal of Traumatic Stress·Amy B AdlerPaul D Bliese
Aug 13, 2009·Human Resources for Health·Dionisios BratisIoannis Ilias
Jun 1, 2010·Emergency Medicine Journal : EMJ·Janice HalpernMaria Gurevich

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

May 31, 2014·BioMed Research International·Janice HalpernMaria Gurevich
Dec 5, 2018·Behavior Research Methods·Brian MacWhinney
Jan 12, 2020·Journal of Clinical Psychology·Renzo BianchiJay Verkuilen
Oct 19, 2019·Prehospital and Disaster Medicine·Vamanjore Aboobaker NaushadMerritt D Schreiber
Jun 6, 2020·International Emergency Nursing·Helena SjölinLisa Kurland

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anxiety Disorders

Discover the latest research on anxiety disorders including agoraphobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder here.