Because EMS Doesn't Save Lives... We Just Extend Them
It doesn't matter what I do because it won't matter in the end. I'm still going to die. Why should I even bother? Depression is very common in the emergency medical services, both in the patients we encounter as well as within ourselves. These deep feelings of sadness and loss of hope will often take someone down a spiraling path causing negative effects on their lives. It is important to understand that this … [Read More...]
"If I'm cured I promise I'll dedicate my life to helping others!" Bargaining in grief is usually done between the aggrieved and their deity or greater power of their choice. This type of bargaining is very different from the type of bargaining we perform with co-workers or merchants in that it is usually a one-sided type of conversation that is occurring. We may find ourselves participating in a similar behavior … [Read More...]
Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this? Anger is an emotion that occurs when one thinks they have been wronged, denied, offended, or mistreated. Anger is another very commonplace emotion and it is thought by modern psychology that it is natural reaction experienced by all humans. We experience anger ourselves on what may be considered a regular basis. Perhaps we feel anger at the dispatcher … [Read More...]
"There's now way this can be happening to me, I feel fine." Denial is something we can all relate to. Whether it is learning that something unexpected has happened to someone we know or to ourselves, the first response always seems to be a sense of denial. This rejected fact, usually in the face of evidence, was postulated by Sigmund Freud as a defense mechanism of the mind. One of the greatest known cases of … [Read More...]
In her 1969 book On Death and Dying author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identifies what she refers to as the Five Stages of Dying. She identified these stages after hundreds of interviews with patients who were terminally ill and dying. The stages she identified that all the patients shared were: Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance While Kübler-Ross' research was limited to … [Read More...]
