Post Traumatic Stress for First Responders
The psychological well-being of first responders is greatly affected by post terrorist attack trauma in terms of physical draining such that the mind and body gets drained, as well as, fatigued by the activities. This impairs the need to make rational decisions regarding aspects of the rescue process hence an individual may end up getting damaged physically. The other effect on the individual involves hallucinations such that the events and horrific scenes which were observed on the scene are likely to pop up subsequently after the rescue operation has been dome with. Consequently, when victims of the attack pass on in the course of rescue, the first responders may feel guilty and responsible for their death such that their self-confidence is lowered a situation which may be disastrous for the responder as they may regard themselves as murderers (Galea, Ahern and Resnick, 2002).
An example of such a situation is where a victim trapped in the rubbles produces signals for the responders so that they can dig through to rescue him/her. Subsequently, as the first responders work towards removing the barriers to reach the victim, the signal fades thus an indication of the victim passing away. The rescue members may feel that their actions were not hurried or sufficient enough hence leading to the death. Hence the responder feels more guilt, as well as, being haunted by the same event repeatedly.
A potential impact of terrorism on first responders is that subsequent rescue and recovery operations will be carried out in a much cautious manner while the helpless feeling will delude any chances of making rational decisions. Similarly, research has shown that some responders opt to take their lives or resign from their duties due to the effects attributed to low confidence. Thus subsequent terrorist attacks are presented by less confident first responders (Galea, 2002).
References
Galea, S., Ahern, J. and Resnick, H. (2002). “Psychological sequelae of the September 11 terrorist attacks.” New England Journal of Medicine 346: 982-987.
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