Psychological Effects

Greetings Fishies!

Here is the final part of the series:

So, what happens when the dust settles? What are the long-term emotional and psychological effects on those with extreme jobs? Why is it that those who regularly put their lives in danger tend to stop at a relatively early age? Take Formula One drivers for instance; by their early thirties they are retiring, often complaining of an enhanced sense of their own mortality, and the responsibilities of life becoming too important to them to continue risking their lives every week. Psychologist Sally Baker has an answer:

“Those under excessive stress or trauma tend to deal with it in different ways. Common reactions include denial or repression of those uncomfortable thoughts or memories or indeed, ‘acting out’, whereby the individual behaves in a way they know is wrong or inappropriate, something which may be construed as not actually coping at all.”

That’s one thing we haven’t covered in our examination of these extreme people. Sometimes, they don’t cope at all. Stress reactions to traumatic events can occur straight away, or they can be delayed for hours, weeks or even years. And when it happens, it’s not always pretty.

Psychologists distinguish between thoughts, feelings, behaviours, and physical symptoms. For example, a feeling of disorientation after an accident can lead to feelings of anger and frustration, which can lead to restless behaviour, and the physical symptom of a rapid heart rate. This could happen at any point after the event, and it’s important to remember that these symptoms usually come from the body and mind coming to terms with what’s happened, rather than being unable to cope. In any doubt, the overall advice is to seek professional help. Gareth English says,

“For some, if their support system becomes insufficient or changes, then the pressure may become too much. Long-term pressure that is not outweighed by support is thought to be linked to a number of health problems.”

You can’t deny that one good way of coming to terms with the death or injury of a fellow worker is humour. Psychologist Stephanie Longridge has worked extensively with the fire service and has an interesting insight,

“In my experience when [firefighters] talk about a colleague who has died, they joke about it, taking the mickey and seeing the lighter side. It’s not disrespectful – it’s just the way they have found to cope.”

Finally - for the kinds of thrill-seeking risk takers we’ve been talking about, one of the long term impacts could well be that they simply run out challenges, run out of adrenalin fuelled activities, and start to take unnecessary risks to get their fix of danger. Gareth English of OPP has a final word here:

“The long term effects vary. For those who were attracted by the thrill of the job, they may find it becomes mundane. They then seek out something more exciting, and can find themselves taking increasingly unnecessary risks.”

Stay tuned!

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