Are we good to have around in emergency situations?

[lofwyr]

I am not sure what the status here is about sharing links to articles, so I won't add it yet, but read something interesting about people with anxiety and depression. In a study they put people with diagnosed anxiety and depression into emergency situations and found they performed very well.

It got me thinking about my own life over the years. I have the dubious honor of being in the presence of a lot of car accidents, heart attacks, severe wounds and trauma over the years. Just the wrong place at the wrong time. I noticed I was always ready to go, very cool and calm under severe pressure, and functioned very well administering first aid, even in very bad injuries like a compound fracture of the lower leg. Splinting etc, no problem at all. Everything just clicked into place, no sign of anxiety while dealing with really bad situations. Same with military training. While never in combat, harsh training conditions and severe leadership decisions with potentially bad consequences never bothered me. You have something to do, you do it.

But ask me over the years to speak in a crowd, and the situation is much, much different. I am largely over my public speaking fear now, but that was because I had to do it a lot, not because I didn't feel fear.

So, do the rest of you have similar experiences? In spite of being a health worrier in the past, I am really good in dealing with emergency trauma, bleeding etc. It seems counter intuitive to me, and if it is okay to post the article I will.

Just thought it might be nice to have a silver lining for folks. Maybe anxiety has its uses, if we are going to be stuck with it anyway. ;-)

[MrLurcher]

Even though I am a massive worrier, and long time sufferer of health anxiety, my partner has always been surprised how I've managed to cope in stressful health related situations.

The main one was when my eldest daughter began chocking on an ice cube. We were on holiday, in a cottage, far away from any hospital. My partner was screaming her head off, tipping her upside down and slapping her back - this went on for about a minute. Nothing was working. I grabbed her calmly, and performed a soft version the heimleich (spelling?) manoeuvre. I know you're not supposed to do that on children, but I had no choice. The ice cube popped out onto the floor. After it was over, I had to leave the room and cried my eyes out non stop for about 10 minutes. Felt quite proud knowing that I'd sort of saved her life.

The second biggest one was the emergency home birth of my second child. I won't go into the details, but my partner had to give birth in our wetroom, and we had to wait over 2 hours for a midwife to arrive. My partner was quite traumatised but I was pretty calm throughout.

Shame I can't be that calm and composed the majority of the time :-(

[lofwyr]

Shame I can't be that calm and composed the majority of the time :-(

It would awesome if we could bottle that confidence. I don't feel it outside of stressful situations, honestly, even when I am not anxious about something.

[BlueIris]

I don't know about emergency situations because I'm lucky enough never to have been involved in one. However, what I've noticed is that people tend to describe me as approachable. I have no idea how I'd react in a crisis, but I think my experiences with anxiety have maybe made me a little more compassionate.

[Fishmanpa]

Anxiety or not, it depends on the individual. I've known big strong, muscle bound men to faint at the sight of blood and the quiet as a mouse person become a lion in the face of an emergency or adversity. Also, in my time here I've known of three people that actually had something serious going on and they faced it head on, their anxiety taking a back seat. They're all doing well and their anxiety has remained in the background.

Positive thoughts

[KK77]

I'm lucky in that I have a very strong stomach for blood, gore, sick, poop etc, and none of it fazes me, even though I suffer from sensitivity to many other stimuli due to a chronic pain condition and depression.

You cannot judge a book by its cover in this case...

[nomorepanic]

Yes you can post the link

[ankietyjoe]

Anxiety or not, it depends on the individual.

This pretty much sums it up.

[Carnation]

For me, yes!
I've dealt with many situations very calmly and efficiently with no anxiety. I won't post the details because some of it is too gory.
However, these situations are all for other people, but myself is a different scenario. :wacko: