Guilt, shame and need for a container: a study of post-traumatic stress among ambulance personnel.
Post-traumatic stress symptoms among ambulance personnel are regarded as a natural behaviour and reaction to working with the severely injured, suicides, injured children and dead people. The findings show that post-traumatic stress symptoms, guilt, shame and self-reproach are common after duty-related traumatic events. To handle these overwhelming feelings it is necessary to talk about them with fellow workers, friends or family members. By using another person as a container it is possible to internalise the traumatic experience. Poor and un-emphatic behaviour towards a patient and their relatives can have its origin in untreated traumatic experiences. Personnel in ambulance organisations who perform defusing, debriefing and counselling have to be informed of the importance that the roll of guilt and shame may play in the developing of post-traumatic stress symptoms.
Jonsson
Anders
A
School of Health Sciences, Borås University College, Room E 525, SE-501 90 Borås, Sweden. anders.jonsson@hb.se
Segesten
Kerstin
K
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000552:Ambulances; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D016272:Occupational Health; D012649:Self Concept; D012752:Shame; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden