critical incident stress
A critical incident (CI) is defined as an event out of the range of normal
experience — one which is sudden and unexpected, makes you lose control,
involves the perception of a threat to life and can include elements of
physical or emotional loss.
Critical incidents include natural disasters, multiple-casualty accidents,
sexual or other types of assault, death of a child, hostage-taking, suicide,
traumatic death in family, duty-related death of a co-worker and warrelated
civilian deaths.
Less familiar than cumulative stress and more difficult to deal with is
“critical incident stress” — the reaction to a critical incident. It is estimated
that 25% of individuals in North America alone will experience an
event that qualifies as a “critical incident.” In other more politically
unstable parts of the world that figure may be even higher.
EXAMPLES OF UN WORK-RELATED CRITICAL INCIDENTS:
Outbreak of hostilities
- Pinned down in a crossfire situation by rifle, rocket and mortar, you are trapped in a
location with limited food, no fresh water and no heat or light for almost four days.
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Evacuation
- You are caught in the middle of a civil war. Eventually you are evacuated to a safe
place, but not before witnessing several people being brutally beaten or shot.
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Peacekeeping mission
- Some people from your team are attacked in a hotel lobby. Everyone is robbed,
three are badly beaten, and one woman is beaten and raped.
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On a project
- Humanitarian workers involved in a disease-prevention project are hit by a severe
tropical storm. Many locals are killed and several team members are injured.
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Although a critical incident may occur at any time, anywhere, there are
certain occupational groups that are at an increased risk of exposure to traumatic
events. These include fire-fighters, emergency health-care workers,
police officers, search and rescue personnel, disaster relief and humanitarian
aid workers, and United Nations peacekeepers, staff members, observers and
monitors.
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