CARING FOR THE STRESSED

From Sampath’s Desk:

CARING FOR THE STRESSED

 

  

Last month (September 2014), the news of an indiscriminate and gory act of a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan simply triggering his live gun killing three of his colleagues and injuring two others grievously inside the complex of one of the most protected vital installations viz. a nuclear power plant in India made for a sad, heart-rending and tear-jerking read besides causing ripples and sending people into a tizzy. One Devin Patrick Kelley (26), a U.S. Air Force airman who had a string of legal troubles after he was court-martialed and sentenced to a year in military prison shot down to death at least two dozen people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S. and killed himself thereafter.

 

These are only a couple of disturbing and upsetting incidents and there have been more cases of such mindless killing of others by ones in despair and despondency characterized by a melancholic state of mind. Some kill and/or injure others, besides committing suicides soon thereafter.

 

Such killing of others/suicide is mostly committed by persons (of course a rarity) who wielded guns or other lethal weapons as part of their security job. Such unfortunate incidents should stir up the conscience of the management of the organizations concerned. In military establishments, we come across such rare, weird, eccentric and outlandish shoot-outs by some depressed individuals, something quite common with the U.S. troops serving in remote corners of the globe as part of their job away from their families for longer periods. Strict security duty for long hours, lack of enough rest and entertainment, self-perceived disgraced status, absence of care and attention from superior officers, being away from the family for longer durations on work, compulsions at times to be on extended duty involving round-the-clock vigil, having attitudinal, behavioural and mood swings due to enormous responsibility to be shouldered even risking their life, harsh treatment from managers, inability to ventilate grievances in the organization for fear of backlash, etc. are some of the reasons attributable to a dejected and desperate mind turning a devil’s workshop with the resultant violent behaviour.

 

It is necessary for the management to assess the levels of stress undergone by their personnel especially those manning sensitive posts requiring constant vigil and figure out those who need attention. Management doesn’t mean always commanding, ordering and persecuting. After all, employees are also human-beings exposed to physiological and psychological hassles in pursuit of their duties. They should be liberally given rest or off, and even counseling, if need be. In fact, wherever possible and feasible, there should be scope for them to freely mingle and interact with other personnel. Canteens, recreation clubs, leave with pay, yoga classes, etc. need to be provided for the psychological well-being of the workers on security duty.

 

A much-harried man working overtime in his cubbyhole/cubicle involved in his chores neck-deep amid mountains of responsibility would easily become psychologically strained. If the pace of life – personal or official - threatens to spin out of control, one tends to go adrift and astray. Stress is the body’s response to something one perceives as imminently dangerous, highly demanding, and/or irretrievably demoralizing. Stress management is not just for the top or middle management alone, but also for the grass root level workers.

 

Support mechanism for ‘employee motivation and well-being’ by using organizational systems and nurturing strong inter-personal relationship with employees along with clear understanding and equitable treatment is a ‘sine qua non’ to de-stress and motivate them.

 

Identification of such stressed persons should be followed up with ‘carefrontation’ when and where a group of people can sit down with a common friend who has a problem of any nature – say depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, becoming violent with others, etc. This group of close-knit people should discuss with their friend his problem and provide solutions. The attempt here is to create an environment where the friend feels comfortable talking about his problem, the idea being to make him feel that he is not alone in the crowd and there are people around to care for him.

 

A simple definition of Eckhart Tolle “Stress is caused by being “here” but wanting to be “there” clinches the issue. 

 

 

There has to be a suitable organizational mechanism and system to handle such persons with sympathy, empathy and compassion picking up the negative thread and ominous signals sufficiently in advance especially in those who have access to arms and ammunition as part of their job. With such cases nowadays reported more often than earlier, it is necessary to address the problem suitably, effectively and efficiently.

 

 

 

R.SAMPATH

9/10/2014